(Host) Vermont’s leading gubernatorial candidates have very different positions on legislation that would require parents to be notified if their minor daughter is seeking an abortion.
The issue came up during a debate sponsored by the Burlington Free Press.
Democratic candidate Peter Shumlin is pro choice. He says he thinks most families and their children would discuss the matter, but he says it’s a mistake to mandate ‘parental notification’.
(Shumlin) "There are circumstances of incest, of rape, of other situations where – if you have a situation of incest and you’ve got to go to the person who’s abusing you and get permission to deal with your pregnancy – I don’t think that’s a healthy thing. So this is an issue that I feel very strongly about. This is a matter between a woman and her provider and government should stay out of the way."
(Host) Republican candidate Brian Dubie is ‘pro life’ and appeared reluctant to discuss the issue at the debate. But under questioning from the Free Press, Dubie said he thought a law could be written to deal with Shumlin’s concerns and that he was open minded about supporting it.
(Dubie) "As a matter of any kind of law that would help to encourage parental involvement with children in a way that has third party – a judge if there was incest in a home – I am as a matter of philosophy supportive of supporting families and their connections to children."
(Host) Dubie says creating new jobs is his top priority in the campaign and that people who highlight his opposition to abortion are trying to distract voters from the more important issues in this election.