Michael Carbonara, a Republican challenger to Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) in the 25th Congressional District, is taking the Moms for Liberty Parent Pledge, a formal declaration to protect parental rights in education and medicine.
The Moms for Liberty Parent Pledge holds the taker to "honor the fundamental rights of parents, including, but not limited to, the right to direct the education, medical care, and moral upbringing of their children," and "advance policies that strengthen parental involvement and decision-making, increase transparency, defend against government overreach, and secure parental rights at all levels of government."
Carbonara signed the pledge during an appearance on the podcast of Moms for Liberty's outreach director, Catalina Stubbe, where Carbonara said, "Every mother, every father, deserves a seat at the table when it comes to their child's education."
"I signed because parental rights are not negotiable," he added.
Rep. Wasserman Schultz, meanwhile, has also fought for parental rights, but from the perspective of childbearing.
For instance, one of Rep. Wasserman Schultz's signature pieces of legislation is the Rape Survivor Child Custody Act, which denies rapists parental rights over children conceived via rape, which she originally introduced in 2015.
More recently, the Florida congresswoman spoke in favor of having in vitro fertilization (IVF) covered by health insurance in April 2025 to The Floridian, saying, "First, infertility is a disease. It is a documented disease, and like every other disease that is covered by health insurance, infertility as a disease should also be covered by health insurance, and we discriminate against couples who want to be able to start their families."
At the same time, Wasserman Schultz is also strongly in favor of abortion, saying it is a human right during the 2024 Election, and that Republicans would attempt to ban it nationwide. However, the Republican position since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 has been that individual states can set their own abortion laws, and a May 2024 Gallup poll suggested that most Americans only favor abortion under specific circumstances.
