As submitted by Don Benton:

THE NATURE OF PRO-LIFE ISSUES
1. Direct threats to innocent human life include first of all the issues of: abortion, which takes the lives of well over a million US children annually; embryonic stem cell harvesting; direct euthanasia; and cloning.  In addition, by using the consistent ethic of life principle in defending life, various other threats to human life have been identified.  Often included among these issues are poverty, capital punishment, racism, unjust war, nuclear arms proliferation and exploitation.  Each and every human being is unique and important, and one's personhood or worth should not be arbitrarily determined by another's choice.  No one exists solely as a means to someone else's happiness.  The choices we make, as individuals and as a society, must be weighed in light of their impact on human life and dignity.  Do you acknowledge both the breadth of pro life issues (variously defined), and the primacy of some of those issues, namely abortion, embryonic stem cell harvesting, direct euthanasia, and cloning? 

    Yes       

PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE
2. State Initiative 1000 currently seeks to legalize Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) by allowing doctors to prescribe lethal doses of barbiturates to certain patients.  The objection to this sanctioning of suicide is that some vulnerable persons, such as those who are feeble, depressed, mentally ill, or handicapped, will likely experience pressures from others to end their lives.  For them a right to die, already protected in the Natural Death Act, (RCW 70.122), may become a duty to die.  The American Medical Association (policy H-140.952) as well as the Washington State Medical Association (2007 Resolution A-7) oppose PAS.  The AMA states that "physician assisted suicide is fundamentally inconsistent with the physician's professional role."  The initiative uses vague language that enable doctors "acting in good faith" to assist mentally ill or depressed patients to commit suicide, while protecting doctors from civil and criminal lawsuits.  Health care insurers could cut costs by approving prescriptions for suicide.  Will society's sanction of suicide have unintended consequences?  Sponsor and former governor Booth Gardner says that this is only a “first step” in legalizing assisted suicide for anyone who wants it.  When society fails to protect vulnerable people in their troubles, but instead offers them the self inflicted violence of suicide, has not society abandoned and betrayed them?  Do you oppose I-1000's attempt to legalize Physician Assisted Suicide in Washington State? I have publicly come out against it.

    Yes       

ABORTION
3. The 14th Amendment says "nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." The Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, 1973, stated that "if this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant's case, of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment." The Court regrettably concluded that "we need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer." Do you believe that life begins at conception and is present throughout pregnancy, and that, therefore, the State has a compelling interest in protecting that life from conception?

    Yes       

4. Do you believe that a unique human life begins at conception? 

Yes

5. Is taking the life of a pre-born child through abortion ever permissible?  Check all that apply:

___X__ No, it's never permissible __Maybe___ Yes, to save mother's life _____ Yes, in cases of rape or incest _____ Yes, for physical deformity

_____  Yes, for gender _____  Yes, for race _____  Yes, to punish spouse _____ Yes, it's always permissible

EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS
6. Do you oppose federal funding for embryonic stem cell research or cloning?

    Yes       

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN ABORTION
7. Peer reviewed scientific studies have shown that parental involvement laws reduce the occurrence of risky sex in teens, and more than 30 states currently have some form of them.  Either the teen refrains from engaging in sex or is more careful before having sex.  These laws help teen mothers and fathers get the support and guidance they need from parents in this important decision.  Not having them risks parental estrangement or alienation from the child when in the greatest need and denies the dignity of the family.  Minors already must have parental approval for even the most minor types of medical procedures or medications and should also for the complex procedure of abortion.   Without parental involvement, a minor impregnated by an adult often times is pressured into having an abortion so as to conceal the fact that the adult is guilty of statutory rape.  Will you promote/support parental involvement laws (with judicial override) for minors when seeking an abortion? To my knowledge, I am the only Senator to ever sponsor and successfully pass parental notification law in the state senate. It was killed in the House.

    Yes       

MARRIAGE PRESERVATION
8.  Children develop best within the context of the natural family.  This is a scientifically proven fact which the Washington State Supreme Court referenced when in 2006, it ruled on the state's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).  The court determined that the state's limitation of marriage to heterosexual couples "is constitutional because the legislature was entitled to believe that limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples furthers ... the well-being of children by encouraging families where children are reared in homes headed by the children’s biological parents."  In concurrence, Justice James Johnson wrote "The unique and binary biological nature of marriage and its exclusive link with procreation and responsible child rearing has defined the institution [of marriage in law]."  In order to affirm and protect children’s rights and the primacy of those rights over adults’ aspirations for novel family forms, do you oppose laws that change the definition of marriage to include homosexual and polygamous relationships?  I have been a consistent vocal opponent of Gay marriage and civil union laws.

Yes       

MEDICAL CONSCIENCE CLAUSES
9. Should doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other medical professionals be granted the right to refuse participation in the provision of medical services that violate the person's moral, ethical or religious beliefs?

Yes       

PUBLIC SCHOOL SEX EDUCATION
10. The Washington State Legislature in 2007 passed ESSB 5297 requiring school districts to teach "scientifically accurate" (aka comprehensive) sex education, if they teach sex ed at all. The typical comprehensive sex education program spend as little as 5% of the time teaching abstinence principles (Zogby 3/27/07), instead spending significantly more of their time teaching students how to put condoms on models of male genitalia and promoting alternative forms of sexual activity called outercourse, which may include showering together and mutual masturbation as effective ways to avoid pregnancy and disease. In contrast, an emphasis on abstinence means teaching students about building healthy relationships and bolstering self worth and self-control.  Given that ESSB 5297 allows school districts a wide range in how they apply  the law, will you work to maximize sex education that is wholesome and truly safe? I vehemently opposed this bill on the Senate Floor and was ACTIVE in the debate against this bill and voted no.

   I support abstinence education programs.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
11. The death penalty in the United States should:

GAMING
12. A proposed casino off I-5 near Ridgefield is projected to be one of the largest in the nation.  What is your position on the building of this casino?

QUALIFICATIONS AND COMMENTS
13. Please state your qualifications for office such as professional, educational, family and community accomplishments.  You may also add any any further comments regarding the relationship of your candidacy to respect life issues.

Boy Scouts of America-Cub Scout Leader

Crisis Pregnancy Center Donor

 

WEBSITE POSTING
14. May LifePac post a digital image of your returned survey on its website?

Yes