Ohio's mixing religion and politics on stem cell issue

Development officials in Columbus like to talk about Ohio as a state that welcomes hi-tech and bio-tech investment, but some segments of the Ohio General Assembly seem intent on sending a different message.
The latest example of this came out of the House Judiciary Committee, which approved legislation banning state funding of any kind of stem cell research and criminalizing research in human cloning or using any by-product of human cloning experiments done elsewhere.
Amazingly, this legislation, which has potentially far-reaching implications for medical research and for the state's perceived climate for pharmaceutical research, was passed by the judiciary committee less than 24 hours after a single hearing. Not surprisingly, it passed on a party-line vote -- Republicans for, Democrats against.
This is in keeping with a political fault-line along which Republicans have chosen to define themselves as pro-life. It is difficult to understand how being against the use of embryonic stem cells to develop treatments that could save or improve the lives of existing human beings is viewed as life-affirming.
Unless, of course, you subscribe to the belief that a microscopic embryo is, itself, a human life. In fact, the legislation does exactly that. The bill would prohibit "research that involves the taking of human life or the use of cells or tissues derived from the taking of a human life, including research that involves cells or tissue derived from an induced abortion and research that involves stem cells derived from destroying human embryos, or that involves stem cells derived from human embryonic tissue."
In one sentence, this bill manages to equate the destruction of the tiniest embryo with "the taking of a human life."
Theology vs. law
The idea that an embryo, at the moment that sperm meets egg becomes a human life, is a belief to which anyone is entitled, and one which certain religions embrace. It is not, however a universally accepted truth, and as such should not be adopted as Ohio law.
This bill sends a message to many researchers, bio-tech companies and philanthropists that Ohio is hostile territory. It should not surprise the state, then, if it joins a handful of others, such as Nebraska, that are being bypassed by researchers. Meanwhile, states such as California, Massachusetts and New Jersey, which not only welcome stem cell research but provide funding for it, are becoming centers for 21st century medical research.
That portion of the bill that addresses human cloning sends an even more ominous message to researchers. While we would acknowledge that there is reason to be wary of human cloning for research purposes and cause to find human cloning for reproduction to be abhorrent, this bill establishes draconian penalties.
A researcher who produced or used a human embryonic clone, or used any part of one would be subject to up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million.
Those are penalties that are completely out of proportion to other parts of the Ohio Revised Code, including some homicides, manslaughter and the administration of an unlawful abortion (which is a misdemeanor of the first degree).
That discrepancy alone should have been enough to cause thoughtful lawmakers to put the brakes on this ill-advised piece of legislation. But it was not enough to even slow down the ideologues in the judiciary committee. Let's hope the full House and Senate recognize H.B. 355 for the flawed piece of legislation that it is.
Ohio deserves better than to have the climate for scientific research established on narrow theological grounds.