# Santorum's abortion play. Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 25, 2011, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912 "2011-01-25T12:59:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/1 "2011-01-25T12:59:46Z")
Recently Santorum did a Godwin equivalent, and [compared](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/24/santorum-life-is-a-civil-right/) Obama to Stephen Douglas dismissing the Rights of slaves for his position of Reproductive Choice. The Religious Right has not really been a factor recently and while Tea Party activists overlap with the RR to some degree, conservative religious issues have not been what has fired up the Right’s base. So why go there now? Is he positioning to get something face saving out of the quixotic attack on the Health Care Reform Act? Or warming up for a Presidential run and trying to undercut Huckabee’s RR love? I don’t quite get it. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/2 "2011-01-25T13:20:47Z")
Roe V Wade anniversary and he was probably looking for a few news/talk show guest invites. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/3 "2011-01-25T14:04:02Z")
Why can’t it be an issue that he is just plain passionate about? And on the RvW anniversary, seems like a perfect time to make his case. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/4 "2011-01-25T15:41:10Z")
Just because nobody else is talking about abortion doesn’t mean Santorum shouldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/5 "2011-01-25T16:03:55Z")
He’s probably expressing helpless frustration, considering what his last name actually means. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/6 "2011-01-25T16:08:57Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Just because nobody else is talking about abortion doesn’t mean Santorum shouldn’t. As a former constituent, I kind of wish he wouldn’t talk at all… ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/7 "2011-01-25T18:12:19Z")
I just wanted to add that in the same interview (or at least a recent interview where he discussed the civil rights of fetuses), he again expressed his opposition to gay marriage: Santorum: …Santorum also argued against gay marriage and gay adoption, saying that it’s “common sense” that marriage between a man and a woman “is nature. And what we’re trying to do is defy nature because a certain group of people want to be affirmed by society. And I just don’t think that’s to the benefit of society or to the child.” From here: [Category: DC - TPM – Talking Points Memo](http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/santorum-on-obamas-abortion-views-its-remarkable-for-a-black-man-to-say-we-can-decide-whos-a-person.php) So, fetuses? Yay civil rights! Gay people? Boo civil rights! All right in the same interview. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/8 "2011-01-25T18:25:18Z")
I don’t know what’s so “weird” about it. I suspect at least 1/3 of the country agrees with him. I don’t, but lots of people do. It’s a religious thing. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/9 "2011-01-25T18:34:21Z")
What I find odd is that the discussion was about civil rights. He talks about how he can’t understand how Obama would be pro-choice, since he’s African American and civil rights should concern him. What about the civil rights of fetuses? Then, he talks about denying civil rights to another group, in the very same conversation. I understand that many people hold similar opinions, it’s just jarring (in my view) to see both of those seemingly directly conflicting points of view in the same interview. That’s why I found it weird. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/10 "2011-01-25T18:38:13Z")
The Roe anniversary makes some people a little crazy. [Arizona State Senator blames Tucson shooting on abortion rights.](http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=13900703): > [@](#): > > Arizona Senator Linda Gray linked the [deadliest shooting in Tucson history](http://www.kgun9.com/Global/category.asp?C=203346) to abortion in a radio interview with journalism students at George Washington University. > > _Political Pulse’s_ student hosts put Senator Gray on the air during a special edition of the show focusing on the aftermath of the Tucson shooting. According to an article by the\* GW Hatchet\*, a student-run newspaper, the goal of the show was to reflect on the shooting and the effects it has caused. Gray, who serves Maricopa County, is the Chairwoman of the Senate’s Public Safety and Human Services Committee, so the student hosts wanted her take on the shooting. > > “Is there something that we can do, and people can do, and lawmakers can do to prevent something like this from happening if the answer is not stricter gun control laws?” asked host Andrew Feldman, a senior at GW. > > This was the Senator’s response: > > “Training of people to respect human life. It is ironic that today, today is the day 38 years ago that the Supreme Court said we do not have to respect the life of an unborn [child]. And we have gone through now more then a generation of people, a large number of people who believe that it is fine to take an infant prior to it being born and to kill it. What type of respect is that for human life? So now we have this generation of people who have that idea, and it continues on that, why respect life if we can kill an infant who can’t defend themselves? It goes back to the value in the creation of life and the respect for that life, and if you’re not trained and have that type of character in realizing that all human life deserves respect. This is what out country has come to,” said Senator Gray. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/11 "2011-01-25T18:39:50Z")
Few people really advocate for universal civil rights. There’s always somewhere they draw the line. And don’t forget that Obama says “boo” civil rights when it comes to SSM, too. For example: how many liberal-minded Americans who support SSM also support polygamous marriage? Yeah civil rights for gays; boo civil rights for polygamists. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/12 "2011-01-25T18:42:39Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Few people really advocate for universal civil rights. There’s always somewhere they draw the line. And don’t forget that Obama says “boo” civil rights when it comes to SSM, too. > > For example: how many liberal-minded Americans who support SSM also support polygamous marriage? Yeah civil rights for gays; boo civil rights for polygamists. I do, so long as they are adults. None of my business. Of course, my great-grandfather was a polygamist, so that might account for it. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/13 "2011-01-25T18:42:54Z")
That’s a stupid comparison. Laws against polygamy don’t discriminate against anyone. Polygamy is not an innate, fixed orientation. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/14 "2011-01-25T18:46:38Z")
I didn’t mean to hijack this with a gay marriage reference, so back on topic. Maybe Santorum has some intention of running in the next election? Or, it’s probably because of the Roe anniversary. Anyway, a better question, in my mind, is why does he get interviewed at all? He was pretty soundly defeated, wasn’t he? I personally can’t stand the guy, but I think the meaning attached to his name is pretty hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/15 "2011-01-25T19:40:12Z")
I think Santorum’s speech was a political error. The fact is that the conservatives have to a great extent achieved their aims with regard to abortion. Abortions are much harder to get than they used to be. It is still possible of course but there are many barriers associated with travel. trimesters and expense nowadays that didn’t exist before because the number of health care clinics that will provide abortions has decreased so greatly. [As the chart on this page indicates](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_United_States), abortions have decreased from a high of 1.4 million abortions in the US in 1990, to about 875,000, roughly the number in 1975, with a constant downward trend indicating that the number will continue to decrease. If the middle class Republicans (i.e., the “rabble” as the upper class Repubicans view them) knew how thoroughly they were winning on the abortion issue, they might not be so inclined to get out there and vote for the political party whose economic program is largely to assist the wealthy in robbing the rabble and their children senseless. Which is probably why they are pulling so hard on that “gays might get married” string nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/16 "2011-01-25T20:04:14Z")
Santorum is stupid and he’s a bigot. That’s why ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/17 "2011-01-25T21:01:11Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > That’s a stupid comparison. Laws against polygamy don’t discriminate against anyone. Polygamy is not an innate, fixed orientation. Actually, most human societies have been polygamous, and all the other great ape species are, too, so it almost certainly is an innate, fixed orientation. But the truth is, we really don’t know. Your assertion is simply shaped by your cultural prejudices. The exact same thing was said about gays until just a few decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/18 "2011-01-25T21:03:28Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Actually, most human societies have been polygamous, and all the other great ape species are, too, so it almost certainly is an innate, fixed orientation. But the truth is, we really don’t know. Your assertion is simply shaped by your cultural prejudices. The exact same thing was said about gays until just a few decades ago. DON’T!! Don’t wind up the **Dio**! Seriously! This is one of his bugbears…we’ll be here for weeks! ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/19 "2011-01-25T21:03:59Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Actually, most human societies have been polygamous, and all the other great ape species are, too, so it almost certainly is an innate, fixed orientation. But the truth is, we really don’t know. Your assertion is simply shaped by your cultural prejudices. The exact same thing was said about gays until just a few decades ago. It would be more accurate to say that it was a practice performed by most human societies, just like making bread. But there is no intrinsic nature of polygamists that make them that way. Nobody wakes up and decides he’s suddenly attracted to more than 1 person, and that 1 won’t do. Sexual orientation, however, does seem to be part of human nature ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912/20 "2011-01-25T21:17:39Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Santorum is stupid and he’s a bigot. That’s why Quoted for truth, and to hopefully avoid this thread from becoming all about gay marriage. So, back on topic, I agree that he’s stupid and a bigot, but I’m not sure that’s what is leading directly to his bringing up abortion rights at this point. It’s probably also so he can call out Obama for, in Santorum’s mind, enslaving the embryos or something. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-abortion-play-why/568912.md?page=2)