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Life Issues / Family Ethics Political Action Committee of Southwest Washington |
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2012 Survey Response:
2012 State Questionnaire THE NATURE OF PRO-LIFE ISSUES 1. Direct threats to human life include first of all abortion, which takes the lives of well over a million US children annually; embryonic stem cell harvesting; euthanasia; and cloning. Additional threats to human life include poverty, capital punishment, racism, war, nuclear arms proliferation and exploitation. Since each and every human being is unique and important, 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, and the primacy of some of those issues, namely abortion, embryonic stem cell harvesting, euthanasia, and cloning? YES
ABORTION 2. Do you believe that a unique human life begins at conception? YES If not, when? ___ 3 mths ___ 6 mths ___ 9 mths ___ 1 yr ___ 18 yrs?
2. The 14th Amendment states "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 though 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 the State has a compelling interest in protecting human life beginning at conception? YES
4. Is taking the life of a pre-born child through abortion ever morally permissible? Check all that apply: __X___ No, it's never permissible _____ 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 AND CLONING 5. Do you oppose embryonic stem cell research or human cloning, whether publically or privately funded? YES
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN ABORTION 6. Peer reviewed 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? YES
MEDICAL CONSCIENCE CLAUSES 7. "The trend toward accepting the termination of some human lives as a normal part of medicine is accelerating ... Courts, policymakers, media leaders - even the elites of organized medicine - increasingly assert that patient rights and respect for patients’ choices should trump the consciences of medical professionals. Indeed, the time may soon arrive when doctors, nurses, and pharmacists will be compelled to take, or be complicit in the taking of, human life, regardless of their strong religious or moral objections thereto." (Westlie J. Smith, 2009). 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
PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE 8. Washington State Initiative 1000 which was passed in 2008, legalized Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) by allowing doctors to prescribe lethal doses of barbiturates to certain patients. One 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 coercion 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 can cut costs by providing 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 violence of suicide, has not society abandoned them? Do you oppose the availability of physician assisted suicide in Washington State? YES
MARRIAGE PRESERVATION 9. Children develop best within the context of a biologically related 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? 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 spends as little as 5% of the time teaching abstinence principles (Zogby 3/27/07), instead spending significantly more 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 the law is applied, will you work to maximize sex education that is wholesome, not dehumanizing and truly safe? I personally feel that sex education belongs in the home and not in the school because there is too much danger of a teacher, in the confinement of the classroom, teaching principles I do not agree with. So my answer to this question is that I would work to remove sex education from all public school curricula, with the exception of the basic facts of reproduction as part of a biology class.
DEATH PENALTY 11. The death penalty in the United States should: _____ not be used _____ be used about the same _X____ be used less _____ be used more
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?
Gambling and its associated vices are detrimental to individuals and
families. I do not support this “industry”.
However, if the current law allows for gambling and it is
privately funded with no taxpayer dollars going to the project,
I would state that I would prefer we not go down that road,
but acknowledge that at this time there is nothing to be done until
the law is changed. QUALIFICATIONS AND COMMENTS 13. Please state your qualifications for office such as professional, educational, family and community accomplishments. You may also add any further comments regarding the relationship of your candidacy to respect life issues. BA in Statesmanship; author or editor of three published books-historical and political; Vice-chairman/Communications Director of the Constitution Party of Washington, National Communications Task Force Coordinator for the Constitution Party, active church member, mother of six, grandmother of 16.
14. Do you have a campaign website? What is the address?
WEBSITE POSTING PERMISSION 15. May LIFE PAC post your survey response on its website? YES |
