Brownback has referred to abortion as "a holocaust" and often compares it to slavery. He saysRoe v. Wade should be overturned and has sponsored or cosponsored several anti-abortion Senate bills, including the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. 

Brownback has said America needs to "stop driving God out of the public square." He supports allowing religious expression on public property, including nativity displays. He introduced the Public Expressions of Religion Act, which required "activist groups" to pay their own legal fees when winning cases related to public displays of faith; Brownback said the bill "would prevent local cities and towns from being coerced into settling claims out of a fear of huge monetary losses." Brownback cosponsored the 2005 Constitution Restoration Act, which would have limited the power of federal courts to rule on church-state issues. 

Brownback opposes the death penalty except in rare, extreme cases. He has said that the Constitution does not mandate or prohibit the use of the death penalty but that "if we're trying to establish a culture of life, it's difficult to have the state sponsoring executions." 

Brownback proposed expanding a school voucher program in Washington, D.C., that allows students to attend private schools, including religious schools, with public money. He favors a constitutional amendment allowing school prayer and says intelligent design should be taught along with evolution in public schools. He cosponsored legislation affirming the inclusion of the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, saying, "There is nothing more American than the Pledge of Allegiance, and an acknowledgement of God is at the heart of our founding principles and is our nation's motto." 

Brownback has said Americans must recognize climate change and called for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. He has promoted farm conservation practices as a method of combating global warming but opposes the Kyoto Treaty. Brownback voted against legislation in 2003 that called for research on abrupt climate change and for a market-based system of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

Brownback supports President Bush's faith-based initiative, calling it "a common-sense way to encourage the miraculous work of many highly effective faith-based charities." Brownback regularly visits and even spends the night with prison inmates taking part in a faith-based reform program in his home state of Kansas. 

Brownback has said that marriage is "the union of one man and one woman" and called on Americans to "defend the institution of marriage by defending the definition of marriage." He supported a federal amendment to ban same-sex marriage and has vowed to continue pushing the issue "until marriage between a man and a woman is protected." 

Brownback says America needs "market-based solutions, not government-run health care." He advocates market regulations that he says would create competition and result in lower insurance costs for the uninsured. He also supports giving Americans control over their medical records, allowing small-business owners and others to form insurance-purchasing pools and making health care more affordable. 

Brownback supported a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the Senate, which was designed to strengthen border security, crack down on employers who hire undocumented workers, establish a guest-worker program and create a path to citizenship for those already in the United States. He has said that America's agricultural industry needs more low-wage, low-skill workers and that the country must simplify its immigration process while preventing criminals from entering the country. 

Brownback voted in favor of the 2002 invasion of Iraq. He says he still supports American involvement, calling Iraq the "key front in the war on terror." He has expressed support for a federated system in Iraq consisting of three states – a Sunni area, a Shiite area and a Kurdish area – and with Baghdad as a federal city. Brownback opposed the January 2007 troop surge, saying that "Iraq requires a political rather than a military solution." He also says the U.S. should transfer responsibility to Iraqis gradually and without set timetables. 

Brownback voted for the 1996 welfare reform bill that required more work for recipients and placed limits on the amount of time they could receive benefits. He says poverty can best be addressed by welfare policy that encourages people to get married, to get a job and not to have children out of wedlock. He has promoted a "marriage development account program" to help married couples get training, buy a car, get an education or purchase a house. Brownback has voted against increasing the minimum wage. 

Brownback opposes all research on embryonic stem cells but says the government should fund research that uses adult stem cells. He voted against the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, which would have allowed federal funding to be used for research on embryonic stem cells. He also appeared with three children who were adopted as frozen embryos, saying, "It is immoral to destroy the youngest of human lives for research purposes."