Ohio Antiabortion Advocates Voice Opposition To Veto Of Stem Cell Funding

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Stem Cell Research
Article Date: 25 Jun 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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Antiabortion advocates responded with "swift and loud" opposition to Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland's (D) line-item veto of a provision that would have prohibited $100 million in state biomedical funds from being used for research that involves human cloning, the AP/Akron Beacon Journal reports.

Strickland recently signed a $1.57 billion economic stimulus package (HB 554) but line-item vetoed the cloning ban, the AP/Beacon Journal reports (McCarthy, AP/Akron Beacon Journal, 6/23). The bill defined cloning as the creation of a "human zygote, human blastocyst or human embryo by any means other than the fertilization of a human egg by a human sperm." In his veto message, Strickland said that although he opposes human cloning, the legislative language would have "severely limit[ed] scientists' ability to conduct potentially lifesaving stem cell research" (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 6/16). State Sen. Steve Buehrer (R), sponsor of the bill, introduced a separate bill that would ban all forms of human cloning, but the measure has been tabled.
The Legislature has been "relatively quiet" this session on issues such as embryonic stem cell research that are "targets" of antiabortion groups' "ire," the AP/Beacon Journal reports. Abortion is "still an issue, but it's much more under the radar because" issues such as the economy and the Iraq war have "come to the forefront," Corwin Smidt, a political science professor at Calvin College, said.

According to the AP/Beacon Journal, Strickland's veto could "reawak[en] abortion-rights opponents who have been laying low." Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said Strickland was "violating the values of thousands of Ohio taxpayers" by vetoing the provision. Ohio Right to Life Executive Director Mike Gonidakis said the group is considering trying to place the issue on the statewide ballot in 2010, when Strickland is up for re-election (AP/Akron Beacon Journal, 6/23).

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