'Cloning to kill' bill on way to Iowa governor's desk
by Jim Brown and Jody Brown
February 28, 2007
(OneNewsNow.com) - - An Iowa pro-life group is lamenting the fact that, in the wake of a bill's approval in the State House, human cloning will soon be legal in the state. The state's Democratic governor has indicated he plans to sign the legislation when it crosses his desk. Pre-vote lobbying apparently included a phone call from pro-abortion rock star Sheryl Crow to a member of the Iowa House.The Iowa House and Senate have passed a bill that repeals the state's human cloning ban that was established in 2002. The House vote was a close one, 52-46, and followed an even closer Senate vote (26-24). The measure permits "somatic cell nuclear transfer," also known as human cloning for the purpose of destroying human embryos. Iowa Governor Chet Culver says he looks forward to signing the bill.
Iowa Right to Life president Kim Lehman says the state will now be creating humans as a commodity that will have no respect whatsoever. "The greatest outrage that we have is that the press, the media, the governor, and the Democratic Party at the State House have completely misled [both] a lot of the members in their caucus and ... the public," says Lehman. "They keep saying that we have a ban on stem-cell research in Iowa, which is completely false."
In 2001, the Iowa House voted 91-1 to ban human cloning and made it a Class C felony. Lehman says many of the House lawmakers who voted to enact the ban at that time were successfully lobbied to change course. She notes one in particular who previously had been solidly in the pro-life corner.
"[Democratic] Representative Brian Quirk was going to vote [against] the bill and got a call [at home] from Sheryl Crow, who evidently is a rock star -- I've never heard her," Lehman admits. "She doesn't even live in Iowa ... and she called from California asking him ... to support the bill. And this is the kind of pressure these people have been getting."
The Catholic group Fidelis also is taking issue with Quirk -- a pro-life Catholic, according to the group -- and his decision to vote in favor of lifting the ban, as well as with the intervention of a pro-abortion rock star.
"[Sheryl] Crow has been a champion of abortion rights, performing at 'Rock for Choice' concerts and is a strong supporter of Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider," says Fidelis president Joseph Cella in a February 23 statement. "She is the last person Iowans, particularly a Catholic legislator who claims to be pro-life, should look to when it comes to protecting human life."
Fidelis contends that were it not for Quirk's vote -- and that of Republican Representative Betty DeBoef, who said she inadvertently cast an "aye" vote instead of a "nay" vote -- the bill would not have received enough votes needed to advance to Governor Culver for his signature. The pro-life Catholic group and Iowa Right to Life have launched a radio ad campaign encouraging Iowans to speak out against HF 287 before it reaches the governor's desk.
