Kirsten Root
Election Information:
Party:
Democrat
District:
21
Office:
State Senate
Contact Information:
rootforindiana.org
Survey Responses:
S = Support
O = Oppose
NR = No Response
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 |
|
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:
I strongly support religious liberty and freedom of political belief. A person should not lose a professional license, bank account, or insurance coverage simply because of a lawful belief or viewpoint. At the same time, those protections should apply to belief, not exempt someone from neutral professional standards or laws governing their conduct. Faith-based organizations do important work in communities across Indiana, and I respect their right to operate according to their faith. However, when an organization provides a publicly regulated service or receives taxpayer funding, I believe the same basic standards and protections should apply to everyone receiving those services.
|
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 stronger protections for children online, including meaningful parental controls and restrictions on addictive design and the collection or use of minors’ personal data. Parents should also be able to seek qualified mental health care for a child who is struggling with questions about gender. However, I do not support counseling with a predetermined goal of changing or suppressing a child’s gender identity. Counseling should give young people a safe place to work through those questions with a licensed professional. I also do not believe the government should remove a child from their family solely because a parent and child disagree about gender identity. Custody decisions should continue to be based on the child’s safety and evidence of abuse or neglect, not a single political or religious disagreement.
|
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:
Parents should have meaningful access to what their children are learning in public schools, and schools should communicate openly with families. I support curriculum transparency and reasonable opportunities for parents to opt their children out of particular presentations or activities. At the same time, students still need to complete the core academic requirements necessary for a public education. I do not support diverting public education dollars to private schools through vouchers or similar programs. If taxpayer dollars are being spent on education, my priority is making sure our public schools have the resources to serve every child in their community. I also believe schools should involve parents in their children’s health and well-being whenever possible, but I would not support an absolute requirement to disclose every conversation a student has with a counselor, nurse, or other professional. There need to be appropriate protections for situations involving abuse, neglect, safety concerns, and established professional confidentiality. I believe students and teachers should be treated with basic respect. I do not support creating a legal right to intentionally disregard how another person asks to be addressed.
|
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:
I recognize that abortion and end-of-life care involve deeply held moral, religious, and personal beliefs. My responsibility as a legislator is to respect those differences while protecting an individual’s ability to make private medical decisions with qualified health care professionals. I believe decisions about pregnancy should remain with the patient and their medical provider, including when complicated or dangerous circumstances arise. I also support public funding for organizations that provide essential health services such as cancer screenings, contraception, STI testing, and preventive care; providing abortion services should not automatically disqualify an organization from receiving funding for the other care it provides. For terminally ill, mentally competent adults, I support physician-assisted dying only with strong safeguards, including a confirmed terminal diagnosis, informed and voluntary consent, multiple medical evaluations, protections against coercion, and the ability to withdraw the request at any time.