Family Values

Abortion:

The most basic right we humans have is the right to life.  I am strongly pro-life and always have been.  I will, therefore, only support legislation that protects and promotes human life, including the unborn.

Marriage:

States have typically determined their definitions of marriage.

In the 1990s, long before I was elected a senator, Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which allowed states to refuse to acknowledge the laws of other states regarding same-sex unions and it defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.  In recent months, DOMA has been compromised in the U.S. Supreme Court and marriage laws in many states, including Idaho, have been struck down in the federal courts rendering them ineffective.

At different times, a constitutional amendment on the legal definition of marriage has been proposed.  Should an amendment defining marriage in the same way as DOMA come before the full Senate, I will support it.