~ The proposal would allow cloning to be used for research.

A nationally known conservative preacher will be joined by former presidential candidate Alan Keyes for a Cape Girardeau rally against a state constitutional amendment protecting embryonic stem-cell research.

Rick Scarborough, leader of the Texas-based Vision America, will lead the rally at 7 p.m. Thursday at Notre Dame Regional High School. Scarborough, a Baptist preacher, said in a telephone interview that the stem-cell measure, Amendment 2 on the Nov. 7 ballot, is a life-destroying proposal.

"There is no greater cultural issue facing the nation than the proposed amendment to the constitution that is for cures that is nothing less than human cloning," Scarborough said.

Amendment 2 was placed on the ballot by a petition drive supported in large part by James Stowers, founder of the not-for-profit Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City. Of the $16 million raised so far, Stowers has personally contributed more than $15 million.

The Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, the group pushing the initiative, has an extensive list of supporters, ranging from the American Diabetes Association and Missouri State Medical Association to Washington University.

The proposal would ban cloning aimed at producing a living human but allow the methods of cloning to be used for research into stem-cell lines.

"One of the things we are trying to show folks, in all honesty, will be that this amendment is finally about dollars, daughters and Dolly," Scarborough said, referring to the cloned sheep.

The dollars will flow to researchers able to patent stem-cell cures, he said, while women will be exploited to provide the eggs needed for fertilization.

Each of those statements is false, said Don Rubin, chairman of the group supporting Amendment 2.

"There is virtually no syllable they utter that has any truth to it," he said.

The proposal bans cloning and any doctor attempting to implant a cloned embryo into a woman faces stiff criminal penalties, he said.

Amendment 2 bars researchers from paying women to participate in their work and the rules governing patents for embryonic stem cells are the same as those governing treatments developed from adult stem cells, he said.

"The opponents of the initiative invent wild claims that demonize all these good people and good organizations in order to create a smokescreen of false claims and scare tactics to hide their real goal," Rubin said. "Their real goal is to get right back to the legislature and try to criminalize stem-cell research and cures."

Compared to the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, the main opposition group is operating on a shoestring budget. Missourians Against Human Cloning's latest disclosure report, filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission on July 15, shows it has raised $238,000 and had $49,654 on hand.

And while Scarborough's group is a separate effort, its message matches that of Missourians Against Human Cloning, executive director Jaci Winship said.

"There is no disagreement or discord," Winship said. "I appreciate their efforts. They are strictly a religious organization motivating pastors, but this issue is bigger than just the religious aspect of it."

Scarborough said his organization is paying for the rallies. They have not filed any financial disclosure reports with the Missouri Ethics Commission, he said, because his group is a tax-exempt charity.

Reports detailing the costs will be filed as required by law, he said. Cost reports for a rally in late July in Jefferson City are due Monday at the Ethics Commission.

Keyes, a two-time candidate for the Republican presidential nomination and 2004 candidate for U.S. Senate from Illinois, will be joining the rally as a result of a long friendship, he said. They met while working to defend Alabama Supreme Court Judge Roy Moore during a controversy over the Ten Commandments, Scarborough said.

Brother David Migliorino, principal at Notre Dame, said he agreed to open the school to the rally because the issue is so important.

"I believe very strongly in not using stem-cell research to hurt the unborn," Migliorino said. "I believe very strongly in the pursuit of life at all costs."

The argument over who is being truthful and who is peddling falsehoods will only get more intense. Winship said her organization is "very careful and cautious about everything."

The Stowers Institute for Medical Research has a for-profit arm that stands to gain from cures created from embryonic stem cells, she said, and the definition of banned cloning in the amendment is scientifically flawed.

Any claims that Stowers, who founded the institute after he and his wife suffered cancer, will personally profit is false, Rubin said. And the cloning ban will thoroughly protect against any attempt to create a human through cloning, he said.

"They completely ignore, on purpose, what people will be voting on in November," Rubin said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126