Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2008 / Petition drive OK’d for embryonic stem-cell vote
Petition drive OK’d for embryonic stem-cell vote
by Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published February 8, 2008
Detroit — Those who want to see more research that destroys human embryos have launched a petition drive to loosen Michigan’s restriction on embryonic stem-cell research.
A group called the Stem Cell Ballot Question Committee would need to collect 380,000-plus signatures of Michigan residents to put the matter before voters next fall. Their petition drive was approved by the Michigan Board of State Canvassers this week. It comes as legislative efforts to allow the destruction and trafficking of human embryos appears to have stalled in the Michigan House Judiciary Committee.
“They didn’t have the votes to go the legislative route, so they decided to go the ballot route,” says David Maluchnik, spokesman for The Michigan Catholic Conference, the Church’s public policy voice in the state.
Last year, the Michigan Catholic Conference launched an aggressive campaign to educate the Catholic faithful about stem-cell research. The campaign stressed the difference between embryonic stem-cell research and adult stem-cell research. It opposes the former and supports the latter.
Embryonic stem-cell research, which after decades has yielded no major treatments or cures, kills a human embryo — a child in its earliest stage of life. Adult stem-cell research has proven much more useful for medical science and has led to dozens of cures and treatments. Importantly, adult stem-cell research also does not require the destruction of a human life.
Maluchnik says additional information regarding the petition drive might be sent out to parishes.
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