To the Editor:

Senator Ruth Hardy made inaccurate statements about her political opponent, Senator Steven Heffernan, in her May 17 “Hardy for Vermont” campaign newsletter.

Hardy claimed that Heffernan, “Asked shockingly inappropriate questions and made dehumanizing remarks based on horrible stereotypes about transgender people.”

H.578, a subject of debate on the Senate Floor on May 15, is a bill that expands upon Vermont’s animal cruelty laws, which includes bestiality. Heffernan’s intent was to point out the potential lack of ability for Vermont to enforce its own bestiality laws if persons are allowed to identify as animals under Prop 4, an alleged equality of rights amendment to the Vermont Constitution upon which we will be voting in November. Prop 4 provides protections for specific groups rather than the original intent of our Constitution to protect individual rights. Multiple identities are listed in Prop 4.

While Heffernan’s questions were not well-articulated – it is obvious these questions came to him on the Senate Floor and were not pre-planned – his point was whether Vermont’s bestiality laws could be enforced among persons that identify as animals. There are an increasing number of persons, including children and young adults, who identify as animals, and in some circles, this exploration of animal identity among children is encouraged. Prop 4 would enshrine protections based upon “identity” into the Vermont Constitution.

Hardy also claimed, “Heffernan has also introduced bills and amendments to undermine or restrict abortion and reproductive rights.” Heffernan sponsored S.116, “An act relating to crimes against an unborn child.” S.116 does not restrict abortion rights. It establishes penalties for persons who commit crimes against a pregnant woman that results in the injury or death of the unborn baby.

A woman in Vermont lost her six-month gestation twins in a car accident due to an impaired driver seventeen years ago. In Texas, a man has been accused of slipping his pregnant partner abortion pills, ending her pregnancy. Vermont has no laws on the books to prosecute persons who commit such crimes. Under Article 22 “Personal Reproductive Liberty”, the mothers of these killed unborn children deserve legal justice, as do the unborn babies, as the right for a woman to carry her baby to term under Article 22 has been violated.

Abortion will never be banned in Vermont. However, it is constitutionally required under Article 22 to establish fetal protections laws to protect all aspects of personal reproductive liberty. S.116 was never taken up.

I recommend you ask your candidates directly what bills they support and not rely on their opponents for accurate information about each other. Vermont General Assembly website provides all the information you need to investigate which bills incumbent candidates supported and how they voted.

-Renee McGuinness, Addison County Resident