Bishops ask to join lawsuit against Missouri stem-cell initiative

Published: 2005-12-21

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (CNS) -- The bishops of Missouri have asked to intervene in a lawsuit challenging an effort to protect embryonic stem-cell research in Missouri. The bishops filed a motion Dec. 13 in Cole County Circuit Court in Jefferson City to become plaintiffs in the case, which challenges the ballot title of a proposed constitutional amendment on stem-cell research. In their motion, the bishops argued that the ballot title "misleads and deceives the voters of the state of Missouri." Called the Missouri Stem-Cell and Research Cures Initiative, the effort seeks to protect somatic cell nuclear transfer, otherwise known as human cloning, from being banned in Missouri. The language of the initiative, however, claims that the proposal will ban human cloning. The Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures is seeking to place the initiative on the Nov. 7, 2006, ballot.

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