The
MBC Pathway reports on the status of the proposed
constitutional amendment to fully ban human cloning in Missouri. Excerpt:
[Missouri Secretary of State] Carnahan’s
rewrite of language submitted last fall by Cures Without Cloning (CWC) was
struck down Feb. 20 by Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce under
precedents established by previous judges as insufficient or unfair. Legally it
means her work is “inadequate, especially lacking adequate power, capacity or
competence. The word ‘unfair’ means to be marked by injustice, partiality, or
deception.” In other words, according to legal precedent, she stated the
consequences of the initiative “inadequately and with bias, prejudice,
deception and/or favoritism.”
An appeal filed by people sympathetic to
the argumentation of Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures will be heard by
the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, March 26. Once all legal
appeals are exhausted, it is believed that approximately 150,000 valid
signatures would need to be collected by May 5, the deadline for getting it on
the ballot in November. Many citizens are ready to fan out all over the state
to go get the necessary signatures once elected officials and judges are
finished with their work.
“We are confident the court of appeals will
uphold the ballot summary written by the circuit court and are preparing for
that outcome,” wrote Missourians Against Human Cloning (MAHC) Executive
Director Jaci Winship in an email alert that went out to supporters in the last
week of February. “We are hopeful the appeal process will move quickly so that
our volunteer army that has been preparing for months will be able to move
forward.”
HT: Sam Lee