Political Positions
On September 16, 2010, O'Donnell said she does not believe in regulating private sexual behavior, and if elected, she will base her political actions on the Constitution, rather than her personal beliefs. She specifically disavowed her 1996 anti-masturbation stance, saying "I was a pundit. I was very passionate in my 20s and wanted to share my beliefs."
O'Donnell has identified herself as a member of the "values movement", and is pro-life. She opposes abortion, including in cases of rape and incest, but if the woman was otherwise going to die, she would allow family members to decide which life to save. O'Donnell opposes human embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and research into cloning monkey embryos. In 2007 on the O'Reilly Factor, O'Donnell expressed her moral concerns about stem cell research, and said, "American scientific companies are cross-breeding humans and animals and coming up with mice with fully functioning human brains. So they’re already into this experiment.”
O'Donnell says that she will never vote to increase taxes. She is in favor of a balanced budget amendment, opposes Congressional earmarks, and supports a simplification of the tax code.
O'Donnell has said that Democrats have prevented the U.S. from attaining energy independence by curtailing the drilling of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. She supports the building of more refineries, and the use of Delaware's agricultural products in gasoline. She opposes cap and trade legislation.
O'Donnell says the first thing she would like to do if elected is to vote to repeal health care legislation enacted by Congress in 2010. She signed the Tea Party activists' "Contract from America," which pledges to replace the act with a health insurance system that is "competitive, open, and transparent free-market".
O'Donnell favors increasing penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants.
She supports raising the age for receiving Social Security benefits.
In reply to a 2010 question as to whether she would support Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky's continuing as the Republican leader of the Senate, O’Donnell shrugged, and said “I wouldn’t not support him.”
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