A: Pro-choice.
Glassheim adds, "Parental notification is ok. Various churches take different positions on when life begins. One view should not impose its will on all the other religious positions."
Not only that, but C-SPAN cameras caught Heitkamp high-fiving Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on the Senate floor just after the vote. PolitiFact assessed the moment as being "more of an awkward greeting than a crude celebration," but to many constituents, it appeared tone-deaf and even offensive.
After that vote, on February 15, Rep, Kevin Cramer entered the race, immediately making it the most-discussed Senate contest of the midterm cycle, and rightly so.
North Dakota has just one member in the House. As a result, Cramer has already represented the entire state in Congress since 2012, the year that both he and Heitkamp were first elected (she in a close contest against Republican Rick Berg). In that election, Cramer received 12,000 more votes than she did.
Kevin Cramer (R): Ban. "Forty years ago, the United States Supreme Court sanctioned abortion on demand. & we wonder why our culture sees school shootings so often."
Heidi Heitkamp (D): Mostly legal. "Reproductive decisions should be left to a woman, her family, & her doctor." But opposes public funding & supports state's right to mandate parental consent for minors & to restrict partial-birth abortions.
Q: Let Planned Parenthood receive public funds for non-abortion health care?
Kevin Cramer (R): No. Co-sponsored bill to defund.
Heidi Heitkamp (D): Yes. Voted against numerous bills aimed at defunding.
Q: Allow employers to withhold contraceptive coverage from employees if disagree with it morally?
Kevin Cramer (R): Yes. Requiring contraceptive coverage infringes upon religious freedoms.
Heidi Heitkamp (D): No. Keep ACA requirement that insurance plans provide non-copay contraception.
The president called to say he was disappointed. "I hope you don't disappoint me again," Cramer tells me Trump said to him at the time. "Start thinking more about your country and less about yourself." For Cramer, one of the very first Republican politicians to endorse Trump during his 2016 run for president, the pointed message was difficult to ignore.
Then, just a week or two later, the Senate voted on the 20-week abortion ban, and Heitkamp joined nearly all of her Democratic colleagues in opposing it, despite having promised her constituents that she'd support it.
After that vote, Cramer says, he was inundated with calls from North Dakotans demanding that he jump in to challenge Heitkamp.
Kevin Cramer (R): Ban. "Forty years ago, the United States Supreme Court sanctioned abortion on demand. & we wonder why our culture sees school shootings so often."
Heidi Heitkamp (D): Mostly legal. "Reproductive decisions should be left to a woman, her family, & her doctor." But opposes public funding & supports state's right to mandate parental consent for minors & to restrict partial-birth abortions.
Q: Let Planned Parenthood receive public funds for non-abortion health care?
Kevin Cramer (R): No. Co-sponsored bill to defund.
Heidi Heitkamp (D): Yes. Voted against numerous bills aimed at defunding.
Q: Allow employers to withhold contraceptive coverage from employees if disagree with it morally?
Kevin Cramer (R): Yes. Requiring contraceptive coverage infringes upon religious freedoms.
Heidi Heitkamp (D): No. Keep ACA requirement that insurance plans provide non-copay contraception.
Becker said he was pro-life and that it's the government's responsibility to protect human life. Stehehjem said he'd have signed the legislation and is pro-life. He also recognizes exceptions for rape and incest.
Project Vote Smart's Synopsis: "Legal Definition of Life": Vote to pass a bill that establishes the legislative intent for the interpretation of the laws when referring to individuals, persons, or human beings to mean organisms with the genome of homo sapiens.
OnTheIssues Synopsis: A YES vote would legally define a fetus as human, and hence define abortion as the taking of a human life.
Project Vote Smart's Synopsis: Vote to adopt a conference report that criminalizes abortion when such a ban would be upheld as constitutional. Highlights:
Becker said he was pro-life and that it's the government's responsibility to protect human life. Stehehjem said he'd have signed the legislation and is pro-life. He also recognizes exceptions for rape and incest.
Burgum took a different tone, rejecting labeling sides and saying he'd prefer to put the issue to a vote of the people. "This is too important for any one person to vote on," Burgum said of signing abortion legislation.
Stenehjem latched on to Burgum's statement, saying the Legislature passes bills and it's up to the governor to act. "You have to make a decision," Stenehjem said.
[OnTheIssues explanation]: A "trigger law" outlaws most abortions, but could not take effect in 2007 because federal law--via the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision--superseded that state law. A "trigger law" would be "triggered" to take effect when the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, which occurred in June 2022].
Christiansen queried her opponents on whether they would support further restrictions on abortion, such as making "a child carry a rapist pregnancy" and restricting access to birth control. She wondered how North Dakota's attorney general would address ectopic pregnancies, which can be life-threatening.
Christiansen queried her opponents on whether they would support further restrictions on abortion, such as making "a child carry a rapist pregnancy" and restricting access to birth control. She wondered how North Dakota's attorney general would address ectopic pregnancies, which can be life-threatening.
A: Strongly Agree. I will oppose all federal funding for abortion.
Q: Chemical abortion drugs should meet essential safety standards (such as in-person consultation with a medical doctor) and require reporting to gather evidence on reactions and outcomes.
A: Strongly Agree. Chemical abortions don't just end the life of an innocent preborn baby, the side effects of these dangerous pills are harmful to the mothers ingesting them as well. As such, I will support legislation that restores the FDA's previous risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) and seek to end chemical abortions in America.
A: Every child has a right to be born and every child must be protected. As a physician, I know there's no such thing as a "medically required" abortion. If the mother's life is in danger, every medical procedure and effort should be focused on saving the lives of the mother and the baby. If the baby dies as a result of the medical procedure, that is a tragic miscarriage, not an abortion.
Q: Does the federal government have a role to play in limiting abortion, and if so what federal steps and/or federal legislation would you support?
A: I support putting an end to every avenue of taxpayer funding for abortion and will support the passage of a Federal ban on abortion.
| |||
| 2024 Presidential contenders on Abortion: | |||
|
Candidates for President & Vice-President:
V.P.Kamala Harris (D-CA) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.(I-CA) Chase Oliver(L-GA) Dr.Jill Stein(D-MA) Former Pres.Donald Trump(R-FL) Sen.J.D.Vance(R-OH) Gov.Tim Walz(D-MN) Dr.Cornel West(I-NJ) |
2024 presidential primary contenders:
Pres.Joe_Biden(D-DE) N.D.Gov.Doug Burgum(R) N.J.Gov.Chris_Christie(R) Fla.Gov.Ron_DeSantis(R) S.C.Gov.Nikki_Haley(R) Ark.Gov.Asa_Hutchinson(R) Former V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN) U.S.Rep.Dean_Phillips(D-MN) Vivek_Ramaswamy(R-OH) S.C.Sen.Tim_Scott(R) | ||
|
Please consider a donation to OnTheIssues.org!
Click for details -- or send donations to: 1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140 E-mail: submit@OnTheIssues.org (We rely on your support!) | |||