Numerous sources report Santorum’s wife Karen had a second trimester abortion in October 1996. The Santorum’s, however, don’t like to describe it as an abortion. Instead, they call it a medically induced miscarriage. Yet for many, this is a distinction without a difference.
In 1996 Santorum’s wife, Karen, became severely ill while pregnant and had to be rushed to the hospital. There, she and her husband Rick were told that if she did not induce her labor, she and the baby would more than likely die. The decision was made to induce labor, and abort the fetus.
Abortion is, and has been, a complicated and contentious issue in American politics. Roe v. Wade was a landmark Supreme Court decision granting women control over their bodies, and reproductive freedom. The decision made abortion a private decision between a woman and her doctor, and ended the tragedy of back alley abortions that killed and maimed too many women in the dark days before abortion was legal.
For many, Roe v. Wade was a victory for medical science and freedom, and a defeat for religious superstition and ignorance. However, for some others, the decision was an insult to their religious faith, and became a political fight, a political fight Rick Santorum is fighting today.
Recently when asked about exceptions for rape and incest Santorum said that any exception to a prohibition on abortion “would be taking a life - and I would advocate that any doctor who performs an abortion should be criminally charged for doing so."
In essence, Santorum is arguinging that the doctor(s) that saved the life of his wife should be criminally charged for doing so.
To be sure, the Santorums did not want to terminate Karen Santorum’s pregnancy in 1996. But they did, and Karen Santorum is still alive. Most people would agree the Santorums made the right decision. However, if presidential candidate Rick Santorum has his way, women in the future would not have the same life saving opportunity granted to Karen Santorum.
For progressives and others there is something deeply repugnant and unAmerican about religious zealots trying to legislate away a woman’s right to reproductive freedom. Yet there is something even more disturbing about Santorum’s extreme anti-abortion rhetoric given his personal experience. For many, Santorum’s position seems down right cruel, and supremely hypocritical.
