SF 162 Passes...Also SF 61

Well, the vote is in, and SF 162, the "Clone and Kill" bill, has passed the House 52-46, with 2 absent or not voting. No doubt tomorrow you will hear the spin in the news coverage of this bill's passage (refer to my previous post). Here's an example of what you can expect: Rep. Lisa Heddens, the floor manager for the bill, in her closing comments said, "If you are voting no on this bill, the message that you are saying is that you do NOT support the ban on human reproductive cloning, and you don't support the treatment of cures for Iowans".

On another note, the house also passed SF 61, the "Bully Bill", which will force school districts to adopt a policy dictated by the state that enumerates certain categories of students, including sexual orientation, who are more deserving of protect from harassment and bullying than other students. This is nothing more than a back door attempt to indoctrinate our school children with the belief that homosexuality is just another lifestyle choice, rather than being the sinful behavior that it is. Anyone who expresses a contrary view will be punished and sent off to re-education camp.

Not only will religious schools not be exempt from this law, but the House amendment which said the bill "shall not be construed to inhibit the teaching or consideration of doctrinal matters" was stripped out of the bill in the Senate. At stake here is nothing less than our freedoms of speech and religion. A teacher in a Christian school that teaches homosexuality is a sin could be subject to disciplinary action under this law.

It is a sad day for Iowa. But let's not be discouraged...let's get mad! Tell all your like-minded friends every chance you get what is going on. And be sure to find out how your legislator voted on this bill, and be sure to let him or her know how you feel about it!

The current majority can do a lot more irreversible damage in the next two years. It is important that ALL biblical Christians let our legislators know how we feel on the issues that are important to us!

Hearing on HF 287

I attended the hearing last night on House File 287 in the House chambers in the statehouse in Des Moines. HF 287 would repeal the state's current ban on cloning, and would allow cloning and killing of human embryos for the purpose of research. As I write this blog, the senate version of the bill (SF 162) is being debated in the House.

There has been much misinformation put out about on this issue by proponents of the bill. Let me try to address some of this misinformation. The false claims are in blue, my responses in black.

Claim: We need this bill in order to allow life-saving embryonic stem cell research.

Truth: Embryonic stem cell research is already allowed in Iowa. Further, no cures have resulted from embryonic stem cell research, while over 70 diseases are being treated with adult stem cells.

Claim: This bill does not allow cloning of human embryos.

Truth: If that were the case, then why would they include in the bill a prohibition on implanting these created cells in the womb of a woman? It is because embryos would be created; anything else would not grow in a woman's womb, thus a prohibition would not be needed. This bill does allow cloning. It repeals our current ban on cloning, and in its place bans only "reproductive cloning", which would supposedly prohibit implantation of a cloned embryo in a woman's womb. However, this ban is unenforcible, as there is no way to prove if a pregnant woman got pregnant naturally, or through the implantation of a cloned embryo.