The New York Times has a break down of the Republican Presidential Candidates’ views on abortion, which is an eye-opener.
Rick Santorum has emerged as having the most extreme views on reproductive rights:
“To put rape or incest victims through another trauma of an abortion, I think is too much to ask.” (Aug. 11, 2011, The New York Times)
“One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country.” […] “Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that’s okay, contraception is okay. It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.” (Rick Santorum, quoted in Slate on Jan. 4, 2012)
More than that: Santorum is only pro choice when it comes to himself. Case in point, Trust Women/SR’s Ellen Shaffer blogged here, in “Santorum: Our Abortion Was Different:” “Rick Santorum is one dangerously confused denialist.” Jezebel’s revealing article “Rick Santorum’s Anti-Abortion Politics Would Have Killed His Own Wife” also noted:
“Mr. Ban Abortion in All Circumstances With No Exception for the Life of the Mother, believes that the actions of his own wife should be treated as criminal. Why? Because, back in 1996, his wife had a procedure that resulted in the deliberate death of her fetus, even though it was a matter of saving her own life.”
In its Jan. 8, 2012, editorial ”Republicans Versus Reproductive Rights,” The New York Times sums up the Republican presidential candidates’ views:
“The Republican field is united in its determination to overturn Roe v. Wade; to appoint Supreme Court justices supportive of that goal; and to end government payments to Planned Parenthood for family planning services, cancer screening and other vital health services provided to low-income women.”