Support
The organization that led the movement to get the initiative on the ballot and later supported its adoption is called The Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures. The measure was proposed to stop repeated attempts by the Missouri Legislature to ban certain types of stem cell research, namely SCNT. During the 2006 election, Claire McCaskill, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, supported the measure. McCaskill unseated Senator Jim Talent, who opposed the measure, the same night that the amendment passed.
During the 2006 World Series, which was partially held in St. Louis, a television ad featuring actor Michael J. Fox aired. While Fox was by name supporting McCaskill, and the ad was paid for by McCaskill's campaign, the primary reason Fox gave for his support was that McCaskill supported stem cell research. The advertisement was controversial because Fox was visibly suffering tremors, the most visible symptom of the side effects of the medications used to treat Parkinson's Syndrome. Rush Limbaugh, a conservative radio host, criticized Fox for allowing himself to have been used by special interests supporting the measure. Limbaugh criticized the uncontrollable movements that Fox made in the commercial, and claimed that it was Fox had either deliberately stopped taking his medication or was feigning his tremors.
Read more about this topic: Missouri Amendment Two
Famous quotes containing the word support:
“Science is intimately integrated with the whole social structure and cultural tradition. They mutually support one other—only in certain types of society can science flourish, and conversely without a continuous and healthy development and application of science such a society cannot function properly.”
—Talcott Parsons (1902–1979)
“All experience teaches that, whenever there is a great national establishment, employing large numbers of officials, the public must be reconciled to support many incompetent men; for such is the favoritism and nepotism always prevailing in the purlieus of these establishments, that some incompetent persons are always admitted, to the exclusion of many of the worthy.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“I believe, as Maori people do, that children should have more adults in their lives than just their mothers and fathers. Children need more than one or two positive role models. It is in your children’s best interest that you help them cultivate a support system that extends beyond their immediate family.”
—Stephanie Marston (20th century)