Santorum attacks Obama on prenatal screening
AP Photo/Eric Gay
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Campaigning in Ohio on Saturday, Rick Santorum displayed his culture-warrior side in full force, as he harshly attacked President Obama by suggesting the president wanted to see more disabled babies aborted and accusing him of projecting his values - which Santorum claimed were not rooted in the Bible - on the Catholic Church.
Santorum recalled his prominent role in the 1990s debates over the controversial procedure that critics call partial-birth abortion. He lambasted the president's health care law requiring insurance policies to include free prenatal testing, "because free prenatal testing ends up in more abortions and therefore less care that has to be done because we cull the ranks of the disabled in our society."
"That, too, is part of Obamacare, another hidden message as to what President Obama thinks of those who are less able than the elites who want to govern our country," Santorum said.
Prenatal tests are a standard part of modern medical care. The Department of Health and Human Services says such tests "help keep you and your baby healthy during pregnancy. It also involves education and counseling about how to handle different aspects of your pregnancy."
After devoting much of his speech to the health care law, an occasionally testy Santorum found himself the subject of reporters' regarding his socially conservative stances.
Earlier in the day, the former Pennsylvania senator charged that Obama's agenda is "not about you ... It's about some phony ideal. Some phony theology. Not a theology based on the Bible." That prompted Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt to call Santorum's comment "the latest low in a Republican primary campaign that has been fueled by distortions, ugliness and searing pessimism and negativity." LaBolt said it was "a stark contrast with the President who is focused every day on creating jobs and restoring economic security for the middle class."
But Santorum doubled down on his attacks, accusing the president of forcing a new moral code on the Catholic church.
"The president has reached a new low in this country's history of oppressing religious freedom that we have never seen before," he said. "If he doesn't want to call his imposition of his values a theology, that's fine, but it is an imposition of his values over a church who has very clear theological reasons for opposing what the Obama administration is forcing on them."
Asked about the fact that the president is a Christian, Santorum answered: "He says he's a Christian, he's a Christian," and would not elaborate on how to balance competing ideas about contraception within the broader faith. But he was firm in painting the president as promulgating a "new moral code" that he contended was "intolerant" of the church.
Santorum's high-profile role on such issues ensures that questions about his social positions will follow him across the country and through a general election campaign, should he win the nomination. Despite the firestorm they ignite at times - and the fact that it can produce lower poll numbers among women voters - the former Pennsylvania senator said he doesn't intend to let up.
"You ask a lot of questions about the social issues," he accused a reporter who asked if he would speak out on those issues during a general election race. "I'm going to talk about the things that I think are important to this country. I've done so throughout the course of this campaign, and I'll continue to do so."
Popular in Politics
- Officials on Benghazi: "We made mistakes, but without malice" 277 Comments
- Where is the Benghazi cover-up Republicans promised? 346 Comments
- Ousted IRS chief: "I did not mislead" the American people 253 Comments
- FBI seeks anonymous source behind Menendez allegations
- Why Obama should worry that current scandals might impact 2016 216 Comments
- House GOP to vote on Obamacare repeal - Vol. 37 928 Comments
- Immigration deal reached in House
- Obama: I didn't know about IRS report 608 Comments
While it may be true (to a point) that some abortions are merely for the convenience of the mother; it is also true that many of these tests avoid giving birth to severly disabled or malformed children who would never know a "normal" life.
Many of these children have a built in life-span (depending on the condition) and are subjected to nothing but an existence of pain and multiple hospitalizations.
These conditions cause the parents untold amounts of anguish and pain watching their child suffer.
The one prayer of these parents is to live just one day longer than their child.
I'm personally against any unnecessary abortions, especially late term abortions,
To me; this is murder pure and simple.
Where do doctors; who are willing to stab scissors into the brains of these babies; come from.??!!
The election of Santorum may just be the worst thing that could happen with his insistence on bringing his own religious beliefs into government.
Obama has made several grave mistakes when it comes to patriotism, supporting the Constitution, our beliefs as a Christian nation and health care.
Most of those running a candidates for the office of the Presidency have made some of these same mistakes.
This coutry needs a real "leader" who will take us back to our original support of the two documents that guided the US to the free and prosperous nation we were.!!
If he is nearly as wonderful as he claims... why did his own people of PA. vote him out of office last time around? I believe that the people of PA. found this dangerous man out to be more dangerous than what most already thought.
Is he attempting a run at a political position within the church itself... or does he finally want to bring government and church together?
All one has to do is listen to his NON SENSE to see that Santorum is a WHACK JOB a very dangerous WHACK JOB!!!!!
Too bad that his Mom didn't have any prenatal testing, or she would have known she was giving birth to a brain-damaged Santorum. He is a walking failed abortion, so no wonder he feels so strongly about that nasty prenatal testing.
Doofus needs to get his head out of our wombs...
Why did his own people of PA.vote him out of office last time? He does not bring that up!
Here is a list of prenatal screening tests covered under the ACA:
General Testing
Blood Test
Paternity Testing
Urine Test
Ultrasound
Rh Factor Testing
First Trimester
Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS)
First Trimester Screen
Second Trimester
Amniocentesis
Cordocentesis : Percutaneous Umbilical Blood Sampling (PUBS)
Maternal Serum Alpha-Fetoprotein Screening (MSAFP)
Quad Screen
Triple Screen Test : Multiple Marker Screen
Third Trimester
Biophysical Profile (BPP)
Fetal Non-Stress Test (NST)
Glucose Challenge Screening & Glucose Tolerance Test (NST)
Group B strep test
Please note that the only test on this list that is now mandated by the ACA to be given without cost sharing to pregnant women, should they choose to have it (which they really should), is the glucose tolerance test, done to detect the presence of gestational diabetes.
Oooo, doesn't Ricky's God frown on deliberately lying?
Taliban Rick would get crushed in a national election - funny, a month ago the establishment GOP thought Gingrich was a problem. They've got a huge problem on their hands with this crack pot.
"because free prenatal testing ends up in more abortions and therefore less care that has to be done because we cull the ranks of the disabled in our society"
What a leap! Wow...
Also, I notice that we haven't heard anything about viagra, cialis or other ED drugs being eliminated from insurance coverage, but our birth control and pre-natal care is called into question by these zealots. Amazing!!