Santorum used to be pro life

[Truthmatters]

Santorum In '95: 'I Was Basically Pro-Choice All My Life, Until I Ran For Congress'

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Santorum In '95: 'I Was Basically Pro-Choice All My Life, Until I Ran For Congress'

So, you start a thread entitled "Santorum used to be pro-life" and then link to something that says he used to be pro-choice?

What a douchenozzle... there's something seriously the fuck wrong with you.

 

[Immanuel]

Santorum In '95: 'I Was Basically Pro-Choice All My Life, Until I Ran For Congress'

Why does the title of your thread say he used to be pro-life and the title of the article say he used to be pro-choice.

Just another lie coming off the fingers of TM, I see.

Oh wait, it was an honest mistake, right?

By the way, as far as I know, Rick Santorum is still pro-life.

Immie

 

[Truthmatters]

oppps yeap I named the thread wrong.

Its was supposed to be prochoice

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Santorum In '95: 'I Was Basically Pro-Choice All My Life, Until I Ran For Congress'

Why does the title of your thread say he used to be pro-life and the title of the article say he used to be pro-choice.

Just another lie coming off the fingers of TM, I see.

Oh wait, it was an honest mistake, right?

By the way, as far as I know, Rick Santorum is still pro-life.

Immie

TM is your brain on like 80 hits of LSD.

 

[LordBrownTrout]

This is great.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Santorum In '95: 'I Was Basically Pro-Choice All My Life, Until I Ran For Congress'

Santorum In '95: 'I Was Basically Pro-Choice All My Life, Until I Ran For Congress'

WASHINGTON -- Prior to entering public office, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum was a self-admitted pro-choice Republican unwilling to dabble in the cultural conservative politics that now defines his presidential campaign, a review of old campaign documents and interviews shows.

This past week, the Pennsylvania Republican-turned-GOP primary frontrunner made a number of eyebrow raising statements meant to demonstrate an uncompromising posture on social issues. He's questioned President Obama's theology, argued that prenatal testing is a form of eugenics, and stated his opposition for contraception funding.

His campaign has insisted that these are side issues, but when pressed during an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday morning, Santorum's top spokesman Hogan Gidley exulted in his boss' consistency on such topics.

"I mean, that's who he is," Gidley said. "He doesn't have to tack to the right on social issues like Mitt Romney because he actually firmly believes those things."

But Santorum didn't always have such conviction on social policy. In his first run for office in 1990, his campaign put out an issue statement on abortion that, by today's standards, would put him among the moderates of the GOP. Abortion, he wrote, requires "a sensitivity to the genuine concerns of both sides." While "government must be on the side of human life" he recognized that " it is very difficult to criminalize any activity once a large portion of society comes to see it as a 'right.'"



In practical terms, this meant opposing funding for agencies "whose family planning efforts have encouraged abortion" and support for "approaches (such as crisis-pregnancy centers) that care for the real needs of both the unborn child and the woman facing an extremely difficult situation." It also meant that he would not place emphasis on "advocating a Human Life Amendment" and that "abortion in 'hard cases' – rape, incest, and danger to the mother's health – cannot be prohibited by legislation."

During the 2012 presidential campaign, Santorum has argued that those exceptions should not be granted.

The 1990 issue statement was sent to the Huffington Post by an operative who worked on that campaign. Gidley did not return a request for comment on the matter. As for its validity, a second Democratic source separately said he was "pretty sure" that was the same document. The statement was referenced in several newspaper articles from that campaign, including a Pittsburgh Press report that noted he withdrew the statement "after settling on a position opposing most forms of legalized abortion."

The senator also discussed his pro-choice origins in an interview he gave five years after defeating Rep. Doug Walgren.

In a December 1995 Philadelphia Magazine article -- which the Huffington Post pulled from Temple University archives -- Santorum conceded that he "was basically pro-choice all my life, until I ran for Congress... But it had never been something I thought about." Asked why he changed his mind, he said that he "sat down and read the literature. Scientific literature," only to correct himself and note that religion was a part of it too.



Elsewhere in the piece, an anonymous "prominent Republican active in Planned Parenthood" said that Santorum was identified in 1990 as a pro-choice lawmaker. "No one here had identified him as anti-choice," the Republican said. More telling was the quote offered by Tom Allen, a Pittsburgh-based OBGYN who had co-founded the city's first abortion clinic, delivered Santorum's wife, Karen, and gone on to share an apartment with her.

"When Karen told me she was moving out," Allen said, "she said, 'You'd really like Rick. He's a lot like you. He's politically active and he's pro-choice.'"

Walgren, likewise, had difficulty recalling abortion playing much, if any, role during his 1990 campaign against Santorum. In an interview with the Huffington Post, the former congressman relayed that it was his understanding that Santorum canvassers "were deliberately instructed not to wear a red rose [symbolizing support for the pro-life movement] in canvassing," and that the literature they distributed "had no mention of abortion in it."

Those who knew Santorum before he entered politics testify to a similar posture. Mark Podvia, who graduated with Santorum from Dickinson School of Law in 1986, said that the issue of abortion or "Christian Faith" never came up either in class or in casual talks.

"I honestly don't remember ever discussing abortion with him," he told the Huffington Post. "He and I had talks over lunch and we would talk military affairs. He was always for a strong defense. That was one point where we would come to agreement. That's the only thing I really remember talking to him about."

That Santorum evolved from someone with pro-choice leanings into a hard-lined pro-lifer is not unique. Many Republicans and even some Democrats have made a similar evolution over the course of their political histories. Included on that list is Mitt Romney, the man Santorum is now competing with for the Republican presidential nomination.

"Santorum is a product of the polarization of our politics," said Pat Ewing, the former campaign manager for Senator Harris Wofford, whom Santorum defeated in the 1994 election. "He has taken advantage of it. He understands it. And he will take a position to benefit himself to get a small group of people to love him adamantly. His personality hasn't evolved, his politics has."



---
I care more about what he believes today and the past 10 years then 1995, but it's worth reading the subject matter.

 

[chikenwing]

So big deal,people change,I once thought I was pro choice,until presented with the choice,funny how real life can change you. There was no way we could kill our child,for our convenience ,it was an instant revaluation,our child a child,nothing but a child.

 

[ScienceRocks]

 

[ScienceRocks]

So big deal,people change,I once thought I was pro choice,until presented with the choice,funny how real life can change you. There was no way we could kill our child,for our convenience ,it was an instant revaluation,our child a child,nothing but a child.

I agree with you. Believe me, I care far more about what he believes NOW.

 

[Immanuel]

So big deal,people change,I once thought I was pro choice,until presented with the choice,funny how real life can change you. There was no way we could kill our child,for our convenience ,it was an instant revaluation,our child a child,nothing but a child.

Sorry, but I have to spread some rep around before I can rep this post.

Great post. Very few of us, TM, probably being the only person ever on the face of the earth who refuses to review her position and change it, will not revise their point of view for any reason at all.

I used to be adamantly opposed to Roe v. Wade and would fight tooth and nail to get it over-turned. It took a while, but eventually, I realized over-turning it would not solve the problem of abortion. Their are many issues that I have changed my point of view on and I do not respect a person who won't change their point of view when provided new information.

Immie

 

[Zoom-boing]

How do you conclude that he was "pro-choice" from this letter, included in the HP article and attributed to Santorum?

"The unborn child's very life is at stake"

"However, government must be on the side of human life"

"I would also support the President in his opposition to abortion funding or to aiding agencies whose family planning efforts have encouraged abortion"

" . . . For this reason I have placed my emphasis not on advocating a Human Life Amendment, but on measures that would reshape the current social consensus and encourage current pregnant women to choose life"

 

[Uncensored2008]

Santorum In '95: 'I Was Basically Pro-Choice All My Life, Until I Ran For Congress'

You mindless demagogues seem desperate.

 

[Immanuel]

How do you conclude that he was "pro-choice" from this letter, included in the HP article and attributed to Santorum?

"The unborn child's very life is at stake"

"However, government must be on the side of human life"

"I would also support the President in his opposition to abortion funding or to aiding agencies whose family planning efforts have encouraged abortion"

" . . . For this reason I have placed my emphasis not on advocating a Human Life Amendment, but on measures that would reshape the current social consensus and encourage current pregnant women to choose life"

Zoom,

In the article there was a newspaper ad quoted where he stated that he used to be pro-choice until he ran for congress. The Huffpost was I believe indirectly quoting him.

Immie

 

[Zander]

He's a demon too....!!!!

 

[Zoom-boing]

How do you conclude that he was "pro-choice" from this letter, included in the HP article and attributed to Santorum?

"The unborn child's very life is at stake"

"However, government must be on the side of human life"

"I would also support the President in his opposition to abortion funding or to aiding agencies whose family planning efforts have encouraged abortion"

" . . . For this reason I have placed my emphasis not on advocating a Human Life Amendment, but on measures that would reshape the current social consensus and encourage current pregnant women to choose life"

Zoom,

In the article there was a newspaper ad quoted where he stated that he used to be pro-choice until he ran for congress. The Huffpost was I believe indirectly quoting him.

Immie

Oh, I saw it but thought that was an ad! lol have to go read it. Thx, Immie

 

[The Infidel]

He's a demon too....!!!!

She looks like she has no soul.... and I dont mean 'soul', I mean soul.


What a black hearted bitch









(damn, too many puns)

 

[whitehall]

"Government must be on the side of human life". Does that statement seem ambivalent to the radical left?

 

[Misty]

So what. People change.

 

[Zoom-boing]

So he was pro-choice but abortion wasn't something he ever really thought about until he ran for congress, where congress you know, passes laws and funding for stuff. He then studied it from a scientific standpoint and also from his religion. He's Catholic, yes? So he didn't just buy into the Catholic stance of 'abortion is murder, abortion is wrong' but after his career in politics took him to congress, where you know congress passes stuff like funding for things, he changed his mind? Ok. I"m glad he looked into and realized how horrendous abortion really is. That he didn't just automatically take the church's stance makes me think that he wasn't as religious then as he is now and that his religious convictions have strengthened over the years, but from the article (below) it sounds as if he didn't give abortion much thought at all back then. Maybe he always wore a condom.

When Karen told me she was moving out," Allen said, "she said, 'You'd really like Rick. He's a lot like you. He's politically active and he's pro-choice.'"

Walgren, likewise, had difficulty recalling abortion playing much, if any, role during his 1990 campaign against Santorum. In an interview with the Huffington Post, the former congressman relayed that it was his understanding that Santorum canvassers "were deliberately instructed not to wear a red rose [symbolizing support for the pro-life movement] in canvassing," and that the literature they distributed "had no mention of abortion in it."

Those who knew Santorum before he entered politics testify to a similar posture. Mark Podvia, who graduated with Santorum from Dickinson School of Law in 1986, said that the issue of abortion or "Christian Faith" never came up either in class or in casual talks.

"I honestly don't remember ever discussing abortion with him," he told the Huffington Post. "He and I had talks over lunch and we would talk military affairs. He was always for a strong defense. That was one point where we would come to agreement. That's the only thing I really remember talking to him about."

That Santorum evolved from someone with pro-choice leanings into a hard-lined pro-lifer is not unique. Many Republicans and even some Democrats have made a similar evolution over the course of their political histories. Included on that list is Mitt Romney, the man Santorum is now competing with for the Republican presidential nomination.