Should we now talk about Santorum's abortion problem?
Submitted by adam1mc on Wed, 01/04/2012 - 16:37Santorum is all over the news challenging other candidates on their 'pro-life' views ( [1] [2] [3] ) and the mainstream media is trying very hard to paint Santorum as the pro-life candidate.
Unfortunately for Santorum, he has his own dark little abortion secret which if became widely known, would destroy his credibility as being the candidate for pro-life conservatives.
In October, 1996, his wife Karen had a second trimester abortion. They don’t like to describe it that way. In his 2004 interview with Terry Gross, Santorum characterizes the fetus, who must be treated as an autonomous person, as a practically a gunslinging threat, whom the mother must murder in self-defense. Karen has had to justify her decision to save her own life by explaining that if she died her other children would have lost a mother.
http://oursilverribbon.org/blog/?p=188
Apparently Santorum believes that it's ok for his family to have an abortion (even though he has stated that he believes life begins at conception and the fetus has 'rights') but doesn't want other families to have the same 'rights' -- even in cases of rape or incest and which could easily be extended to cover cases of maternal harm.
This is just another example of 'Serial Hypocrisy' that needs to be disseminated to the masses.
For 'Pro-Life Conservatives', there should be no alternative to Dr. Ron Paul -- the man who has delivered over 4000 babies and who has no deep dark abortion secrets of his own (other than his well-spoken about incident where he witnessed an abortion and which helped spur his belief that abortions are immoral).
No
Abortion is a wedge issue. Talk about it and immediately alienate one half of the voters or the other. If it were the job of the president to decide if women can get abortions or not, that would be one thing. But considering that it should not even be a federal issue, the less said about it the better. That is true on the campaign trail and true here on DP.
Besides, Mrs. Santorum is not running. Her husband is.
I think Santorum will fizzle. It is not a bad thing to have him around for a while to split the anti-Liberty vote.
Abortion is a wedge issue in the CONSERVATIVE PARTY ?
I am not sure about that. If being pro life is part of your core belief system it is nothing to shy away from. Paul's expertise as a OBGYN makes him uniquely qualified to discuss this issue, and his position on states right makes him seem less like a fundamentalist.
I think that running in the bible belt means we have to address these issues even if that means bringing up these issues that make EVERYONE but Ron Paul uncomfortable.
Let's win Texas and California.
http://www.ronpaulvotecount.org/voting/voting%20affidavit.pdf
I doubt seriously that anyone who is pro-life is going to fault
Mrs. Santorum for making such a decision that was medically forced upon her.
Pro-life people are generally against ELECTIVE abortion, not in cases of one-life-or-the-other-with-no-way-out scenarios.
This will not go over well and I doubt Dr. Paul will push it.
It is hypocritical though
as Santorum has been against abortion for others, even in the case of these one-life-or-the-other-with-no-way-out scenarios. He has said of other politicians who advocated for such exceptions to anti-abortion law, "They wanted a health exception, which of course is a phony exception which would make the ban ineffective." That hypocrisy should be pointed out.
Sorry, I disagree. This was not a health issue as I understand
it.
It was a life-or-death issue.
He's right. "Health" of the mother is absurd and is an open door.
LIFE of the mother however, is an entirely different situation.
It isn't hypocrisy because the issue isn't BEING FORCED to choose mother or child, the issue is ELECTIVE abortion.
Sorry, but I doubt seriously you'd find even a handful of adherents to say otherwise.