News Release: MCC Praises Senate for Passing Human Embryo Research Transparency Legislation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 21, 2010

(LANSING)—The following statement was released today by Paul A. Long, Michigan Catholic Conference Vice President for Public Policy, after the State Senate passed with bipartisan support Senate Bills 647-652, legislation that seeks to ensure human embryo research is conducted with transparency and accountability in Michigan:

“While human embryo experimentation represents a direct attack on human life itself, the fact that voters approved Proposal 2 in 2008 should not prevent the Legislature from passing common sense provisions that penalize those who operate outside of the law. The passage of the 2008 ballot measure did nothing to ensure transparency or accountability in human embryo research, and may very well have opened the door for illegal research to be conducted by unscrupulous individuals seeking profit from suffering patients. Senate Bills 647-652 ensures those who conduct human embryo research in this state, either within public institutions or at private companies, are doing so in a legal and transparent manner.

“Additional provisions of the legislative package—that which call for simple reporting requirements, ensuring informed consent is obtained in IVF clinics, banning the creation of human-animal chimeric embryos, and upholding the intent of Michigan’s cloning ban by prohibiting the trafficking of cloned human embryos into the state—are common-sense measures that deserve further support. Michigan Catholic Conference applauds the Senate for its vote today, and encourages the House of Representatives to follow suit by passing Senate Bills 647-652 in a timely fashion.”

Michigan Catholic Conference is the official public policy voice of the Catholic Church in this state.

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