2024 Alliance Defending Freedom Voter Guide Questionnaire
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is a 501(c)(3) alliance-building legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith. In an effort to help inform voters about their state legislative candidates, we have established an easy online voter guide now available at: https://freedomvoterguide.com/ (My answers are specifically here.)
Life
1. Prohibiting abortion after a baby's heartbeat is detected, with limited exceptions such as to save a mother's life or in cases of rape or incest.
[Oppose] In my opinion, prohibiting abortion beyond heartbeat detection (which is relatively early in the gestation process) is an equivalent to slavery. Each woman should have the time and ability to decide their own actions without interference by governmental entities. Yes, there should be restrictions (which can be discussed), but these restrictions should be more of a guideline for doctors and their patients and should absolutely NOT be determined by any governmental entity.
2. Allowing taxpayer dollars to fund organizations that provide abortion.
[Oppose] Allowing taxpayer funding for abortion is simply allowing the government to insert an over-arching opinion on the process of abortion, which I believe should remain between the doctor and the patient and should not be subject to governmental interference or oversight.
3. Allowing voluntary physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients.
[Support] Regarding physician-assisted suicide, I believe that each person should have the ability to decide for themselves the choices of their lives. Personally, I disagree with the idea of suicide (assisted or otherwise), but neither I nor anyone else should be allowed to direct someone else in what they should or should not do with their lives.
First Amendment
4. Prohibiting the government from denying required licensure or certification to individuals because of their religious or political beliefs.
5. Exempting faith-based organizations (e.g., adoption/foster care providers, private schools) from regulations that cause them to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.
[Support] Religious beliefs should be an area from which the government has absolutely NO jurisdiction. The exception would be if that belief required physical or mental harm to be inflicted on another.
6. Allowing consumers to obtain a written explanation when a financial institution shuts down the consumer's account to protect against ideologically driven cancellations.
[Support] While I would normally agree that any institution should always have the ability to determine its own customer base, if an institution chooses to shut down a consumer's account for any reason, a written explanation is the least that should be provided.
7. Protecting confidential donor information so individuals are able to privately support charities and causes of their choice without fear of being doxed.
[Support] Individuals should be able to support any organization they wish to support for any reason without fear of being called to question that support. However, organizations should be required to identify themselves publicly.
Family
8. Allowing parents to obtain professional counseling for a child struggling with gender confusion to help the child find comfort with his or her biological sex.
[Support] The proviso that I would add is that such counseling should only be used to help the child understand their confusion and not force any specific belief system on the child.
9. (a) Elevating "sexual orientation" to a protected class alongside race, religion, sex, age, and disability in nondiscrimination law. (b) Elevating "gender identity" to a protected class alongside race, religion, sex, age, and disability in nondiscrimination law.
[Support] I find discrimination of any sort to be repulsive, and if the individual meets all of the required criteria, their gender identity should not be a factor in determining their eligibility.
Education
10. Allowing the use of tax credits, vouchers, and/or education savings accounts to cover the cost of children attending the school of their parents' choice, including private religious schools.
[Oppose] Regardless of the euphemism used, all of these simply steal monies from public education and give them to private schools with no guarantees on the quality of education that the child receives.
11. Protecting teachers and students from being forced to refer to a person by inaccurate pronouns that do not align with the person's sex.
[Support] No one should be forced to refer to anyone using specific pronouns, whether personal or otherwise. Each person should be allowed to make their own choices, and if the referred individual finds that offensive, they should be allowed to voice that offense but should also realize that others have their own choices regardless of their preference.
12. Directing schools to inform parents of any mental, physical, or emotional health information and treatment that a child is receiving at school.
[Support] Parents should always be informed of information regarding their students but should also have a voice in the determination of the student's treatment.
13. Giving parents access to the curriculum, presentations, and activities that their children are learning in school and allowing them to opt their children out of school extra-curricular activities, presentations, or specific lessons to which the parents object.
[Support] As governmental officers, we may not agree with the role that some parents play in their child's education, but the government's agreement or disagreement in that role is inconsequential.
Health and Welfare
14. Protecting health care workers from losing their jobs if they decline to participate in a procedure or treatment that violates their personal beliefs and conscience.
[Support] Texas, as an "at will employment" state, allows private institutions to determine their own criteria for employment, but forcing someone to participate in an action that violates their personal beliefs or forfeit their job is discrimination, and should not be tolerated.
15. Preventing males who identify as female from entering sex-separated spaces intended for females, such as showers, locker rooms, bathrooms, dormitories, women’s shelters, prisons, etc.
[Support] Regardless of gender identity, my support here is directed toward the physical safety of all parties rather than the comfort/discomfort of any individual or group.
16. Ensuring pregnancy centers that provide life-affirming support to women and their families are not targeted or penalized by government officials.
[Support] Government and governmental agents should have absolutely NO voice in the decisions of individuals or groups.