by Michael Foust, posted Wednesday, November 01, 2006 (17 years ago)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP)--Robert and Anna Burnett of Kansas City, Mo., have a personal interest in a much-debated Missouri ballot initiative that would protect embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning.
Their two children, 14-month-old twins EmmaLyn and Ian, formerly were frozen embryos -- the very same type of embryos that are thawed and destroyed to harvest stem cells for research. The Burnetts are vocal opponents of the initiative, Amendment 2, and for good reason.
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Robert and Anna Burnett of Kansas City, Mo., hold their twins, EmmaLyn and Ian, who were born through embryo adoption. The couple has traveled the state, trying to put a face on frozen embryos and encouraging people to vote against Amendment 2, which would protect therapeutic cloning and embryonic stem cell research.Photo courtesy of Robert and Anna Burnett
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In recent weeks they have traveled the state, urging Missourians to vote "no" on the proposal. They aren't opposed to all stem cell research -- just the research that requires the destruction of embryos.
"We've basically been willing to go anywhere anyone's asked us to go, just to bring the babies and to say, 'Here are two lives. This is what we're talking about. When you destroy these embryos you're destroying a life,'" Robert Burnett told Baptist Press.
EmmaLyn and Ian are products of embryo adoption, a growing industry that allows couples -- most of them infertile -- to adopt embryos left over from in vitro fertilization treatments. While many scientists want to use those embryos for research, others argue the embryos should be adopted and given a chance to be born. Read More
