Much to our surprise the ballot initiative in Missouri that would approve funding for human embryonic stem cell research would change, forever, the abortion laws in that state.
The language in the initiative, which would become a state constitutional amendment if approved, states that the blastocyst is "a small mass of cells that results from cell division, caused either by fertilization or by somatic cell nuclear transfer, that has not been implanted in a uterus."
However, the current Missouri law states that an unborn child is considered "the offspring of human beings from the moment of conception until birth and at every stage of its biological development, including the human conceptus, zygote, morula, blastocyst, embryo and fetus."
Fred Sauer, who has a doctorate in molecular cell biology, states that the fact that a blastocyst is referred to as a "mass of cells" shows that "it is not defined as a human being."
Other ambiguities exist in the proposal as well. We at American Life League hope and pray that the initiave is voted down by the good people of Missouri. Human lives depend on it.