California's Prop 71 Divides Debate on Stem Cells

An alliance of pro-choice activists in California is splitting with usual allies to oppose a popular stem-cell research proposition. The group says the initiative does not adequately protect poor women from becoming a biological marketplace.


SAN FRANCISCO (WOMENSENEWS)--As though to prove the adage that politics makes strange bedfellows, some pro-choice activists and feminists are joining anti-choice activists and the Catholic Church in opposing a controversial $3 billion stem-cell research initiative on California's November ballot.

The Pro-Choice Alliance Against Prop 71 says that while it generally supports embryonic stem-cell research it cannot support this specific initiative.

President George W. Bush restricted federal funds for embryonic stem cell research to 78 stem cell lines in 2001, and only 19 of those lines are available to researchers today. Prop 71 would defy the Bush administration by providing critical state funding for embryonic stem cell research.

The group argues that while millions of low-income Californian women lack basic health care, Prop 71 could relax safeguards over important ethical issues, such as the buying and selling of their embryos, and be a taxpayer-funded giveaway to...