Christine Dargon - Freedom Voter Guide

Party:

Democrat

District:

1

Office:

State Senate

www.dargonforazsenate.com

Survey Responses:

S = Support
O = Oppose
NR = No Response

Life	S	O	NR
1. Protecting Life: Protecting the right to life of an unborn baby with a beating heart.	X
2. Taxpayer Funded Abortion: Allowing taxpayer dollars to fund organizations that provide abortion.	X
3. Physician-Assisted Suicide: Allowing voluntary physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients.	X

Candidate's Comments:

These issues are rarely black and white, and I don't think a simple support/oppose captures the full picture. I believe in protecting life, and I also believe a woman has the right to make decisions about her own body and health. I oppose third-trimester abortion except when the mother's or child's life or health is at risk. On funding, most of what Planned Parenthood provides is preventive care and screening, not abortion, so restricting that funding cuts off essential healthcare for women who rely on it. And on assisted suicide, I support it for terminally ill patients for the same reason I support reproductive choice: people deserve autonomy over their own bodies and end-of-life decisions, especially when facing a terminal diagnosis

First Amendment	S	O	NR
4. Conscience Rights for Professionals: Prohibiting the government from denying required licensure or certification to individuals because of their religious or political beliefs.	X
5. Conscience Rights for Faith-Based Organizations: Exempting faith-based organizations (e.g. adoption/foster care providers, private schools) from regulations that cause them to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.		X
6. Prohibiting De-Banking/Insuring Based on Beliefs: Prohibiting financial institutions from shutting a customer’s bank account or canceling their insurance because of their religious or political views.	X

Candidate's Comments:

On licensure, I support a professional's discretion to decline a client relationship they're not well-suited for. This is a matter of clinical ethics and client welfare, not religious exemption; a client is better served by a provider who can offer them competent, engaged care. I oppose exempting faith-based organizations from regulations that apply to everyone, since that oversight exists to protect the people whom organizations serve. I oppose allowing financial institutions to close accounts based on a customer's religious or political views; that's discrimination, plain and simple, regardless of who it targets

Family	S	O	NR
7. Protecting Kids from Social Media: Requiring platforms to by default prevent underage accounts without parental permission, preserve parents' authority when access is allowed, and remove addictive design features and data exploitation from underage accounts.	X
8(a). Parental Rights: Allowing parents to obtain professional counseling for a child struggling with gender confusion to help the child find comfort with his or her biological sex.		X
8(b). Parental Rights: Protecting parents from losing custody of their child solely because they treat their child consistent with his or her biological sex.	X

Candidate's Comments:

I support platform regulations that protect children from addictive design and data exploitation while preserving parental authority. This is a rare area of common ground. I oppose allowing so-called counseling aimed at changing a child's gender identity; this is conversion therapy, and it is opposed by every major professional psychological and medical association, including the APA, AAP, and AMA, based on clear evidence of harm and no evidence of benefit. As a psychology professor, I take that evidence seriously. On the custody question, I'm declining to respond as written, because 'treating a child consistent with their biological sex' is not clearly defined. Parents generally have wide latitude in how they raise their children, but this question doesn't specify what conduct is at issue, and I'm not willing to endorse a policy without knowing what it actually protects. If it aligns with abuse laws than I am in support.

Education	S	O	NR
9. School Choice: Allowing the use of tax credits, vouchers, and/or education savings accounts to cover the cost of children attending the school of their parents’ choice, including private religious schools.	X
10. Free Speech at School: Protecting teachers and students from being forced to refer to a person by inaccurate pronouns that do not align with the person’s sex.		X
11. School Healthcare Disclosure to Parents: Requiring schools to inform parents of any mental, physical, or emotional health information and treatment that a child is receiving at school.	X
12. Transparency in School Curriculum & Activities: Giving parents access to the curriculum, presentations, and activities that their children are learning in school and allowing them to opt their children out of school extra-curricular activities, presentations, or specific lessons to which the parents object.	X

Candidate's Comments:

I support school choice, including ESAs, but with oversight: these funds were intended for students with disabilities whose needs aren't met in public schools, and families already enrolled in private school shouldn't draw funds absent financial need. On pronouns, I believe a child should be called what they wish to be called with parental permission. A blanket rule shielding refusal, even when parents have authorized affirmed pronoun use, overrides that parental authority rather than protecting it. I support parents' right to be informed of their child's health information and treatment, and their right to consent to therapy for their child. I support parental access to curriculum and the right to opt children out of specific lessons or activities.

Health and Welfare	S	O	NR
13. Medical Rights of Conscience: Protecting health care workers from losing their jobs if they decline to participate in a procedure or treatment that violates their personal beliefs and conscience.	X
14. Women’s Privacy: Preventing males who identify as female from entering sex-separated spaces intended for females, such as showers, locker rooms, bathrooms, dormitories, women’s shelters, prisons, etc.			X
15. Protecting Pregnancy Centers: Ensuring pregnancy centers that provide life-affirming support to women and their families are not targeted or penalized by government officials.	X

Candidate's Comments:

On healthcare worker conscience protections, I support a provider's right to decline participation in a procedure that conflicts with their beliefs, similar to my view on therapists, but that protection should come with an obligation to ensure patients can still access care elsewhere, particularly in rural or single-provider settings where refusal could mean no care at all. On sex-separated spaces, I don't think this issue has a single answer across all contexts. Communal showers involve a degree of physical exposure that raises legitimate concerns; a bathroom with private stalls does not. Shelters for abused women require particular care given the population served. I'm declining to answer this as a blanket policy because the right answer depends on the specific space, the degree of exposure involved, and the safety needs of the people using it. On pregnancy centers, my view is consistent with my answer on faith-based organizational exemptions: these centers should meet the same regulations and standards as any other organization providing health-related services, including truth-in-advertising and licensing requirements, but they shouldn't be singled out or penalized for offering legal care within those standards. Equal application of the rules, not exemption and not unfair targeting, is the consistent principle here.

Endorsements:

Note: The endorsements listed are self-reported by the candidates and have not been independently verified.

CWA
AFSCME
Sierra Club
Arizona List
Equality AZ
Arizona College Democrats
Better Ballot Arizona
DWPA
D.O.R.R.
Jason Chisolm, Vice Mayor of Dewey-Humboldt Arizona