LETTERS: DO RESEARCH ON CANDIDATE POSITIONS

To the editor:

I recently was doing some research on the Internet on the various candidates in Missouri. The first survey I looked at was a broad-based, impartial survey about all sorts of issues done by Vote Smart. After looking at this survey, I looked at the Missouri Right to Life Web site for its candidate endorsements. I was appalled at the very deceptive rating of the candidates for U.S. Senate. It listed Kit Bond as pro-life and rated Curt Frazier as having mixed answers. Since I had just read the answers of both candidates as well the other candidates, this very much surprised me.

At the Vote Smart site, candidates were given a choice of several responses. They were to mark all with which they agreed: (a) Abortions should always be legally available, (b) Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy, (c) Abortions should be legal only when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape or when the life of the woman is endangered, (d) Abortions should be legal only when the life of the woman in endangered, (e) Abortions should always be illegal, (f) Abortions should be limited by waiting periods and notification requirements as decided by each state government, (g) Prohibit the late-term abortion procedure known as partial-birth abortion, (h) Prohibit public funding of abortions and public funding of organizations that advocate or perform abortions, and (i) Other.

Frazier had checked off as agreeing that abortions should always be illegal, partial-birth abortions should be prohibited, public funding of abortions and advocating abortions should be prohibited. Under "Other," he said that regarding (d), "the baby's life should be saved is at all possible." As any thinking person would admit, you can't be more pro-life than Frazier is.

On the other hand, here are Senator Bond's responses. He checked off as agreeing with (f), (g) and (h). These responses would hardly cause me to consider Bond as being pro-life, yet Missouri Right to Life and National Right to Life rate him such.

In the past, I used Right to Life endorsements to help determine who I would vote for. Because of deceptive advertisements, I will no longer vote for someone just because they are endorsed by Missouri Right to Life, as they may not truly be the most pro-life candidate in the race. From now on, my family will be doing our own research rather than relying on an organization that we used to trust. I recommend that other pro-life voters do the same.

TAMMY ALGER, Vice Chairwoman

7th District Committee

U.S. Taxpayers Party of Missouri

Carthage