Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published April 27, 2007

Detroit — Church and pro-life spokesmen voiced opposition to proposed legislation that would legalize embryonic stem cell research and the cloning of human embryos in Michigan.

"No. 1, we shouldn’t be sanctioning the destruction of human life, and No. 2, we shouldn’t be getting into the business of cloning human beings," said Paul Long, vice president for public policy of the Michigan Catholic Conference.

Long was referring to House Bills 4616 and 4617, introduced into the Michigan House of Representatives by State Rep. Andrew Meisner, D-Ferndale, and H.B. 4618, introduced by State Rep. Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing.

State Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, was expected to introduce similar proposed legislation this week in the Michigan Senate.

Long explained that Meisner’s H.B. 4616 would amend Michigan law, which currently "prohibits research on and destruction of a human embryo," to allow the use of surplus frozen embryos from fertility clinics, if the man and woman involved in the creation of the embryo give their permission.

Meisner’s H.B. 4617 would permit the cloning of human embryos for the purpose of harvesting stem cells, a practice that is also now illegal, Long continued.

He characterized Meadows’ bill (H.B. 4618) — which increases penalties on all forms of illegal cloning — as an attempt to confuse the public, by appearing to be an anti-cloning measure while actually facilitating a form of cloning.

"We actually don’t have any problem with Meadows’ bill by itself, but it is tied to the other two," Long said.

Taken together, the Meadows bill seeks to allay fears of cloned embryos being implanted and brought to term, while being tied to other legislation that permits the cloning of embryos to be destroyed in the process of research, he explained.

As of Monday, no committee hearings had been scheduled on the house bills, and Long said he could not predict whether the bills would make it to the House floor before they recess for the summer – that is, if they do recess for summer, given the need to deal with the state’s budget crisis.

But Long predicted that they would eventually come before the entire House of Representatives for a vote, though both he and Ed Rivet, legislative director for Right to Life of Michigan, said they expected they would be defeated.

And both said they expected the legislation would be solidly rejected by the state Senate.

"The quicker people understand what these bills would do, the more quickly support for them disappears," Rivet said.

Proponents of embryonic stem cell research claim that it holds promise for the development of cures for a variety of diseases, including Parkinson’s.

The Catholic Church opposes embryonic stem cell research, because it always involves the death of the embryo. But the Church does not oppose research on stem cells harvested from adults or from umbilical cords or amniotic fluid.

And it is precisely from these other sources that stem cell research has actually yielded significant medical advances, resulting in promising new cures.

Embryonic stem cell research, on the other hand, not only has not resulted in any significant advances, but has been fraught with problems.

Rivet said embryonic stem cell research has not yet progressed to the point where the cells are being tested on humans, but "even in the lab, when they put them into rats, they grow tumors."

One of the arguments of the advocates for embryonic stem cell research is that there is no other use for surplus stem cells from fertility clinics, so they would probably just be destroyed anyway. But some couples have "adopted" such embryos and brought the babies to term.

"They’re just adopting nine months earlier than people usually do it," Rivet said.

Although the Catholic Church opposes this practice, as it does in vitro fertilization in general, the possibility of such adoptions does undercut the argument that the embryos would be inevitably destroyed.