By AP/KWMU
St. Louis – Missouri Catholics are receiving letters directly from bishops telling them to vote against an embryonic stem cell research proposal at the polls next week.
The letters were sent to many of Missouri's estimated 850,000 Roman Catholics. They are urged to vote "no" on Amendment 2. That measure would protect all forms of embryonic stem cell research allowed by federal law.
Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn argues the amendment would enshrine cloning in the state constitution, destroy human embryos and keep state officials from limiting the research.
The executive director of the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, Donn Rubin, said many clergy and voters with strong religious beliefs see the matter differently.
He said they feel a moral obligation to pursue research that could alleviate suffering. Rubin said the amendment would ban human cloning.