Copy of the NRLC's 2000 Congressional Candidate Questionnaire

1. The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) believes that unborn children should be protected by law, and that abortion should be permitted only when necessary to prevent the death of the mother. Under what circumstances, if any, do you believe that abortion should be legal?

A. I do not believe this is an issue that federal law should govern, rather state law should decide.

(Ninth Amendment says "The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people and the Tenth Amendment says, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.")

2. Do you support the complete and immediate reversal of the Roe v Wadeand Doe v. Bolton decisions, thereby allowing the state legislatures and the Congress to once again protect unborn children?

A. Yes (Again, this is a question for states to decide as proscribed in the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.)

3. Will you vote against the "Freedom of Choice Act," the Family Planning and Choice Protection Act," and any other congressional proposal that would limit the authority of states to restrict abortion?

A. Yes (Again, this is a question for states to decide as proscribed in the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.)

4. Would you support legislation to explicitly recognize that any infant who has completely emerged from the mother’s body enjoys the full protections of the Constitution for however long he or she lives, regardless of whether the child’s lung development has reached the point of "viability"?

A. No (This borders on the federal government dictating standards that could hinder scientific research which could benefit all of mankind.)

5. Would you vote for the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, and oppose weakening amendments?

A. Yes (As NRLC says ""The Partial-Birth Abortion procedure is used after 20 weeks of pregnancy – often to six months, seven months or even later. The difference between partial-birth abortion and homicide is a mere three inches.")

6. Would you vote for the Child Custody Protection Act and oppose weakening amendments?

A. Yes

7. Will you vote for measures to protect living human embryos from being used for medical experiments that would harm or kill them?

A. No (Again, this borders on the federal government dictating standards that could hinder scientific research which could benefit all of mankind.)

8. Would you vote to recognize unborn children as victims of violent crimes, including supporting the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, and oppose amendments that would treat crimes that injure or kill unborn children as if they were only additional injuries to their mothers?

A. No

9. Would you vote for the current Hyde Amendment policy without weakening amendments?

A. Yes (Federal tax dollars should not be used to fund abortions.)

10. Prior to 1993, the Hyde Amendment "exception" applied only to life-of-mother cases. Would you vote to restore the pre-1993 Hyde Amendment, in order to prohibit federal funding of abortion, except to save the mother’s life?

A. Yes

11. Besides Medicaid, would you vote to ban the use of any congressionally appropriated funds for abortion in bills covering the military, federal employees, the District of Columbia, etc., with the same exceptions you indicated above with respect to the Hyde Amendment?

A. Yes

12. Federal law prohibits abortions at U.S. military facilities, even if privately funded (except in life of mother or rape or incest cases.) Would you vote against any attempt to weaken or repeal this policy?

A. Yes

13. Would you vote to restore the Mexico City Policy, under which no U.S. funds would go to organizations that provide abortions in other nations (except in life of mother, rape, or incest cases), or that campaign to repeal the pro-life laws of other nations?

A. Yes

14. Will you vote against U.S. funding of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)?

A. Yes

15. Will you vote for legislation to clarify that drugs whose use is generally prohibited under the Controlled Substances Act may not legally be prescribed or dispensed to assist suicide or for euthanasia?

A. No (What drugs an individual chooses to put into his or her body is not any business of the state.)

16. Will you insist that any Medicare restructuring bill for which you voteallows unrationed, unmanaged fee-for-service health insurance as a private market alternative (as does current law)?

A. Yes

17. Will you insist that any Medicare restructuring bill for which you voteallows older Americans to add their own money to government payments, if they choose, in order to purchase unrationed, unmanaged fee-for-service health insurance (as does current law)?

A. Yes

18. Will you vote to prevent involuntary denial of lifesaving medical treatment by amending the Patient Self-Determination Act to provide that in cases in which a health care provider is unwilling to provide treatment, food or fluids that is desired by the patient or the patient’s surrogate and that in reasonable medical judgement is necessary to prevent the patients’s death, the provider must allow the patient to be transferred to a willing provider and provide the treatment pending transfer?

A. Yes

19. Will you oppose any legislation (such as the McCain-Feingold bill or Shays-Meehan bill) that would restrict, regulate, or ration the right of nonprofit corporations (which are not PACs ) such as the NRLC to engage in unrestricted commentary (issue advocacy) on the positions and voting records of specific officeholders and office seekers, or require that names of citizens who fund such communications be reported to the government?

A. Yes

20. Would you oppose legislation that would redefine "coordination " to mean anything other than an actual prior communication about a specific expenditure for a specific project which places the expenditure at the direction of or under the control of a candidate, or which causes the expenditure to be made based upon information about the candidate’s plans or needs provided by the candidate?

A. Yes

21. Would you vote to uphold the rights of political parties to raise and expend funds to discuss issues or the positions of officeholders or office seekers on those issues, or to build grassroots networks, without being subjected to any additional restrictions?

A. Yes