CGS-authored

PROP. 71 IS BLURRING USUAL DIVIDING LINE


Embryonic stem cell research is creating this election year's oddest political bedfellows, redrawing the usual dividing lines.

On Monday, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger broke ranks with President Bush and other Republicans by endorsing Proposition 71, a $3 billion bond measure to fund stem cell research that has been opposed by social conservatives.

And a small but respected group of liberals has crossed over to the other side, opposing the initiative and finding themselves shoulder to shoulder with the Catholic Church and evangelical Christians.

Absent on the list of concerns is the welfare of embryos, which used to dominate the debate. Republicans like Schwarzenegger want California to be on the cutting edge of developments in biotechnology, for the health of both the state's economy and its residents.

And some environmentalists and feminists are concerned about the role of private biotech companies, the rights of women whose eggs would be harvested and the long-term consequences of manipulating life.

``This initiative is not primarily about stem cell research -- it is more fundamentally about how we...