She said, in support of (prop) two, "As a Catholic, I can say to be pro cure is to be pro life."
Uh-oh. You just knew that the people who have spent $2.79 million to oppose this proposition would have something to say about that. Lansing Bishop Earl Boyea -
"To be in favor of proposal two is not to be pro life. A well formed Catholic conscience would never lead a person to support proposal two as a Catholic."
Um, that presents an issue as well. Looks like many Catholics are having a problem with the form of their conscience.
Three-quarters of Catholics nationwide support using excess embryos – those no longer needed for in-vitro fertilization – for research, according to a poll sponsored by National Catholic Reporter’s Web site.
Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed agreed that using frozen human embryos for stem cell research would be putting them to “good use,” according to www.NCRCafe.org.
And Cure Michigan cites other polls as well -
• 69% of Catholics support stem cell research with early human embryos. (Belden Russonello & Stewart, "Secular and Security-Minded: The Catholic Vote in Summer 2008," Catholics for Choice, July 2008.)
• 58% of white Catholics say it is important to conduct stem cell research, compared to 56% of the general population. (Pew Research Center, "Pragmatic Americans Liberal and Conservative on Social Issues," Aug. 3, 2006, http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/283.pdf (accessed June 24, 2008.)
• 61% of white Catholics say "it is more important to conduct stem cell research that might result in new medical cures than to avoid destroying the potential life of human embryos involved in such research," as compared to 57% of the general population. (Pew Research Center, "Abortion and Rights of Terror Suspects Top Court Issues," Aug. 3, 2005, http://people-press.org/report/253/abortion-and-rights-of-terror-suspects-top-court-issues (accessed June 24, 2008.)
• 70% of Catholics and of all adults support embryonic stem cell research. (Harris Poll, "New Harris Poll Finds Different Religious Groups Have Very Different Attitudes to Some Health Policies and Programs," http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=608 (accessed June 24, 2008.)
Joe Schwartz, who is Roman Catholic according to Wiki, had this to say-
“We are confident Proposal 2 will pass, in large part because of the huge numbers of Catholics who will be voting yes,” said former Republican Congressman Joe Schwarz, M.D., spokesman for the CureMichigan ballot campaign. “Rank-and-file Catholics understand that Proposal 2 is pro-life and pro-family.”
I know better than to get in the middle of a Catholic fight, so I'll let y'all figure this one out as far as what constitutes a "well formed Catholic conscience". I'll just say "Yes on 2" and run away real fast before someone tries to convert me. ;-)