Editor’s note: The following is a copy of a survey that was sent on August 13, 2010 to each of the Guam 2010 Election Candidates. The purpose of the survey is to give voters a sense of the candidates’ stance on issues around life, marriage and family and its impact on our island community. Results of the survey will be published next weekend.
Dear Candidate:
Thank you for considering our request. Linal’a yan Esperansa, (“Life & Hope” aka The Esperansa Project), is a Guam-based concerned citizens group. While we focus on many issues regardinglife, marriage and the family, abortion and its impact on the rights of the unborn, their mothers, and the demographic, social, and cultural consequences of abortion on Guam as a whole is our overriding concern, particularly since Guam has the most liberal abortion laws in the nation.
Our main method of communication is through our Google group which can be found at www.esperansa.org. We also recently erected a Facebook page which you can find by searching on Facebook for The Esperansa Project. Our group reaches approximately 1000 members directly through email and about another 1000 through letter mail. Forwards of our email are common and contribute to our growing database.
Since you are asking us for our vote, we would first like to ask something of you. On the following pages is a list of questions compiled by The Esperansa Project. You are asked to simply answer yes, no, or no comment. Once your reply is completed, please return the completed survey to my office via fax, email, or drop off BY 3PM, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25.
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The attached survey is also being emailed to our members, posted on our website, posted on the PDN blogs, posted on our Facebook page, and printed in the Pacific Voice (Archdiocesan newspaper) on August 22. Your responses will be shared via the same media with the Pacific Voice printing the responses on August 29, the Sunday before the election. The survey and your answer will also be made available to the media through a press release.
Should you choose not to participate in our survey, we will print “did not participate” next to your name.
Thank you for your consideration of our request,
Marjorie DeBenedictis, M.D.
The Esperansa Project
ESPERANSA PROJECT CANDIDATE SURVEY 2010
No. 1 Would you be in favor of a law requiring a mother seeking an abortion to beadvised of the possible physical and psychological risks associated with the abortion procedure? (Note: 28 states have this requirement -Guttmacher Institute)
□ Yes □ No □ No Comment Initials:________
No. 2 Would you be in favor of a law requiring a mother seeking an abortion to be advised of alternatives to abortion, such as counseling, financial assistance, and adoption? (Note: 34 states have this requirement -Guttmacher Institute)
□ Yes □ No □ No Comment Initials:________
No. 3 Would you be in favor of a law requiring a 24 hour waiting period between the time a woman seeking an abortion is first advised of the possible risks and alternatives to abortion and the abortion procedure? (Note: 25 states have this requirement - Guttmacher Institute)
□ Yes □ No □ No Comment Initials:________
No. 4 Would you be in favor of a law requiring information about ultrasound services be provided to a mother seeking an abortion? (Note: 8 states have this requirement - Guttmacher Institute)
□ Yes □ No □ No Comment Initials:________
No. 5 Would you be in favor of a law which requires medically accurate information describing the unborn child be provided to a mother seeking an abortion? (Note: 31 states have this requirement – Guttmacher Institute)
□ Yes □ No □ No Comment Initials:________
No. 6 Would you be in favor of a law which would require that a mother provide written informed consent prior to an abortion procedure? (Note: 34 states have this requirement – Guttmacher Institute)
□ Yes □ No □ No Comment Initials:________
No. 7 Would you be in favor of a law which would require medically appropriate medical care for a child that survives an abortion? (Note: see Bill 309 – which has yet to go to a vote)
□ Yes □ No □ No Comment Initials:________
No. 8 Would you be in favor of a law which would require more diligent screening for mothers seeking an abortion to insure that the abortion is not coerced, unsafe, or unnecessary?
□ Yes □ No □ No Comment Initials:________
No. 9 At least one state has proposed legislation to ban the decapitation and crushing of the skull of the unborn child, a practice common in an abortion procedure known as Dilation & Extraction. According to Guam Medical Records, this procedure was employed 39 times over the last two years. Would you be in favor of a law banning the decapitation of unborn children and the crushing of their skulls? (Note – North Dakota http://stopdecapitation.com/resources/bill-against-decapitation/)
□ Yes □ No □ No Comment Initials:________
No. 10 Would you be in favor of a law which allows a woman to sue the abortionist for psychological injury after an abortion? (Note: At least one state, Nebraska Law 28-327.04 allows this)
□ Yes □ No □ No Comment Initials:________
No. 11 It is now medically established that an unborn child can feel pain by 20 weeks gestation. Because we now know that a child suffers when it is being dismembered, would you be in favor of a law that would ban abortions after 20 weeks except to save the life of the mother or to prevent substantial physical impairment to the mother? (Note: At least one state, Nebraska, bans abortions after 20 weeks with the exception mentioned.)
□ Yes □ No □ No Comment Initials:________
No. 12 If banning abortions on Guam after 20 weeks is not possible, would you be in favor of a law which would require the use of fetal anesthesia on all abortions on unborn children who have reached 20 weeks of gestational age in order to eliminate or at least minimize the pain we now know they feel?
□ Yes □ No □ No Comment Initials:________
No. 13 38 states prohibit abortions after a specified point in pregnancy, most often fetal viability, which is now as early as 23 weeks – except when necessary to protect the woman’s life or health. Would you be in favor of a law mandating similar gestational limits to abortion on Guam? (Note: Guttmacher Institute)
□ Yes □ No □ No Comment Initials:________
No. 14 Guam Medical Records reports that over the last 2 years, 2/3, or the majority of all abortions were performed on Chamorro mothers. If elected would you be willing to introduce legislation and fund programs that would raise awareness about the high incidence rate of abortion among Chamorro mothers and its negative impact on the Chamorro people? (Note: 2008 and 2009 Abortion Reports)
□ Yes □ No □ No Comment Initials:________
No. 16 Are you in favor of a law which would create a same-sex equivalent to marriage such as that proposed in Bill 185?
□ Yes □ No □ No Comment Initials:________
No. 17 Guam has some of the most liberal divorce laws in the world. According to DivorceMagazine.com Guam is ranked 2nd in the world for divorces per 1000 people per year. One legal referral website calls Guam an “overseas divorce paradise”. If elected, would you be in favor of introducing more restrictive divorce laws?
□ Yes □ No □ No Comment Initials:________
No. 18 As of 2006, the last year for which the CDC has comparative records, the birthrate for non-marital births on Guam was 57.7% compared to a national average of 38.5%, or 1.5 times higher than the rest of the nation in spite of the mandatory sex education in public schools and high incidence rate of abortion on Guam. If elected, would you be in favor of abstinence education in public schools? (Note: CDC-Center for Disease Control-Report 2006)
□ Yes □ No □ No Comment Initials:________
August 21st, 2010 | Tags: