BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Abortion, marriage equality, and the legalization of marijuana for medical or recreational use are some of the biggest hot-button social issues in Alabama and the United States.
The Birmingham News/AL.com editorial board asked the two candidates vying to represent Alabama’s 6th District in Congress – Republican Gary Palmer and Democrat Mark Lester – to offer their positions on these three key issues.
Abortion
“I’ve wrestled with this myself, and I’ve come down on the side that I support a Constitutional right of a woman to manage her own reproductive health,” Lester, a Birmingham-Southern College professor of history, said. “That doesn’t mean that I don’t tremendously respect people who take a different view. We just have a disagreement about that.”
Lester’s position is rooted in his belief that the government should not be involved in such an intensely personal decision, and that abortions should be done safely. He said he believes abortions ought to be “rare, but they have to be legal and they have to be safe.”
“I’m pro-life,” Palmer said. His belief stems from the Declaration of Independence, specifically the second sentence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The nut of that sentence, Palmer argues, is that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are unalienable. “It means these rights pre-exist you, they exist outside of you, they pre-existed government, and they exist outside of government,” Palmer said. “Not only does no one have the right to take them from you, you can’t even give them away, so they’re unalienable.”
“In my opinion, if you can’t get the life issue right, I’m not sure where you’re going to be. Everything else is open to discussion as well,” he said.
Same-sex marriage
Both candidates had a civil libertarian bent on the issue of gay marriage, though they came down on different sides of the issue. Palmer said he doesn’t believe government should be in the business of defining marriage while also arguing that society was formed around a one-man, one-woman marriage. Lester argued that marriage “is not my business” and “it’s not harming anyone.”
“All of society is organized around one man and one woman bearing children and creating a society, a community, and a culture,” Palmer said. “I think the definition of marriage is outside of government. It is what it is. Government can call anything it wants to by any name it wants to, but it doesn’t change what it is. So, I don’t think government should be in the business of saying any arrangement is a marriage.”
“I have no problem with same sex marriage,” Lester said. “If people want to form a lasting, loving relationship – good gosh, we’ve got so many things out there, and hatred out there, and this is fine for people. That’s their private life.”
Medical and recreational marijuana
Gary Palmer noted that he has supported a bill known as Carly’s Law, which allows research into the use of a marijuana-derived oil, called CBD oil, which shows promise in treating disorders such as epilepsy. Palmer also joined other politicians and officials in jumping out of a plane last month in a bid to raise money for that research.
“But I am not for legalizing marijuana,” Palmer said. He said he believes that open marijuana markets, like those in Colorado, “are not a good idea.”
Asked if many people bring that issue up with him, Palmer said “middle-aged and civil libertarian types who haven’t gotten over the 70s.”
“They’re still listening to the Grateful Dead and watching ‘Cheech and Chong’,” Palmer said. “But, with all due respect, they’re voters too, but if that’s their issue, they need to vote for somebody else.”
Lester said he supports legalization of marijuana for medical purposes. His nephew died of cancer, Lester said, and lived in a place where medical marijuana was legal and helpful. “This helped him, and I would not want to deny that to someone who was suffering, if that was medicine that could help him,” Lester said.
However, Lester said he is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, and this belief stems from the time he spent as an assistant U.S. Attorney in Arkansas prosecuting drug cases.
“I think just to put another temptation out there for people is very, very unwise,” Lester said. “We don’t have the culture, I think, for it.”
The election is Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Abortion, marijuana, and same-sex marriage: District 6 candidates state their positions
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