There is an article floating around on Tumblr and now other sites about Rick Santorum’s stance on abortion and about his wife.
Personally, I am pro-choice, most especially when the woman’s life is in danger. But Santorum is not. And yes, by having such a public and strong opinion, his past is fair game. But only if it is represented properly, which it has not been.
The fake article charges:
Karen was going to die if her pregnancy was not ended, if the fetus was not removed from her body. So, at 20 weeks, one month before what doctors consider ‘viability’, labor was artificially induced and the infected fetus was delivered. It died shortly thereafter.
This is not true.
The labor was not induced, meaning it was not an abortion.
The truth is this:
Shivering under heated blankets in Magee’s labor and delivery unit as her body tried to reject the source of the infection, Karen felt cramping from early labor.
…
As her fever subsided, Karen – a former neonatal intensive-care nurse – asked for something to stop the labor. Her doctors refused, Santorum recalled, citing malpractice concerns.
There have been rumors that Karen Santorum had an abortion since her child died, even landing her in The Inquirer, but it is not true.
In the months after the birth and death of Gabriel Michael Santorum, rumors began circulating in the Pennsylvania medical community that Karen Santorum had undergone an abortion. Those rumors found their way to The Inquirer, prompting the questions that led to this article.
And no, Santorum never said:
“Abortion in any form is wrong,” said Santorum in 2000, three years after the tragedy. “Except for my wife. If your wife’s life was at stake and the only thing that could save her was an abortion, well, too bad. Your wife will have to die. It was different with my wife. You see, I love her. I don’t even know your wife’s name.”
Google it, the only sources come from Tumblr.
What Santorum actually said was:
“The doctors said they were talking about a matter of hours or a day or two before risking sepsis and both of them might die,” Santorum said. “Obviously, if it was a choice of whether both Karen and the child are going to die or just the child is going to die, I mean it’s a pretty easy call.”
That’s the real quote, and it’s damning just by being true, given his belief in baby above all else.
So please, stop, stop, stop reblogging and liking that article.
(Source: oursilverribbon.org)
“I’m gonna stick up for people who at this point are being called terrorists and being accused of waging jihad against our own country,” she said. “Enough is enough and I’m not going to sit here and take it anymore.”
