# Santorum's wife had an abortion?!?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [January 4, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438 "2012-01-04T23:20:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/1 "2012-01-04T23:20:29Z")
[Santorum: Our abortion was different](http://oursilverribbon.org/blog/?p=188)
I did not know that. How is he still considered such a strong anti-abortion candidate, and not a massive hypocrite?
---
### Author:  [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/2 "2012-01-04T23:40:07Z")
Reading that, I would not call that situation an abortion. Santorum remains a disgusting piece of shit, but I’m not seeing what else they could have done in that situation.
---
### Author:  [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2012, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/3 "2012-01-04T23:48:47Z")
I don’t like the man, but the OP’s argument is disgusting. He was faced with a horrible choice: induce labour today, or induce labour tomorrow or the day after, once his wife was dead. Do you really think that the extra day or two would have saved his child?
---
### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/4 "2012-01-04T23:51:23Z")
Technically, I suppose the doctors could have given her something to stop the early labor (induced by the infection in the fetus, presumably), but they refused to do so. Would that make it a “passive” abortion? Anyway, she undertook a very risky pre-natal surgery to try to save the fetus, which was not successful. The fetus was effectively dead.
In this sort of case, where it is a virtual certainty that the fetus will die anyway, is there anyone who insists that the mother also has to die rather than to abort?
By the way, it wasn’t clear to me from the article if, without the surgery, the fetus would have died before delivery, or after.
Roddy
---
### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/5 "2012-01-04T23:53:28Z")
> [@The linked article](#):
>
> Upon their son’s death, Rick and Karen Santorum opted not to bring his body to a funeral home. Instead, they bundled him in a blanket and drove him to Karen’s parents’ home in Pittsburgh. There, they spent several hours kissing and cuddling Gabriel with his three siblings, ages 6, 4 and 1 1/2. They took photos, sang lullabies in his ear and held a private Mass.
:eek:
---
### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/6 "2012-01-04T23:55:07Z")
> [@Grumman](#):
>
> I don’t like the man, but the OP’s argument is disgusting. He was faced with a horrible choice: induce labour today, or induce labour tomorrow or the day after, once his wife was dead. Do you really think that the extra day or two would have saved his child?
From the linked article.
> [@](#):
>
> Karen, a soft-spoken red-haired 37-year-old, said that “ultimately” she would have agreed to intervention for the sake of her other children.
>
> “If the physician came to me and said if we don’t deliver your baby in one hour you will be dead, yeah, I would have to do it,” she said. “But for me, it was at the very end. I would never make a decision like that until all other means had been thoroughly exhausted.”
So they would have made the choice if needed but want to deny others that choice.
---
### Author:  [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/7 "2012-01-05T00:00:09Z")
> [@Grumman](#):
>
> I don’t like the man, but the OP’s argument is disgusting. He was faced with a horrible choice: induce labour today, or induce labour tomorrow or the day after, once his wife was dead. Do you really think that the extra day or two would have saved his child?
That’s not my argument- in fact, I’m pro-choice. I think he’s a hypocrite, because he wants to ban a procedure (and based on things he’s said, prosecute any doctor who performed such a procedure) that his wife had.
---
### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/8 "2012-01-05T00:00:12Z")
[Grievous bodily injury](http://freethoughtblogs.com/lousycanuck/2011/06/19/santorums-wifes-abortion-was-different-you-see/) to the mother is A-OK, though. I wonder where he’d put the goalpost if his wife merely faced that rather than impending death.
---
### Author:  [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/9 "2012-01-05T00:04:36Z")
That wasn’t an abortion.
That said Santorum is still a fanatic who has no business being in the White House and never will be.
---
### Author:  [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/10 "2012-01-05T00:08:30Z")
‘Originally Posted by The linked article
Upon their son’s death, Rick and Karen Santorum opted not to bring his body to a funeral home. Instead, they bundled him in a blanket and drove him to Karen’s parents’ home in Pittsburgh. There, they spent several hours kissing and cuddling Gabriel with his three siblings, ages 6, 4 and 1 1/2. They took photos, sang lullabies in his ear and held a private Mass.’
> [@VinylTurnip](#):
>
> :eek:
I know the feeling. I wish we had even an ultrasound picture of the baby our surrogate lost at 5 wks; we’ll never meet him/her & pics would be all we’d have. The pictures they took are all the Santorums will ever have of a little boy they watched grow to a child & young man in their minds.
---
### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/11 "2012-01-05T00:16:26Z")
I think it’s very doubtful that this counts as an abortion. And I don’t always argue for taking the high rode with disgusting people, but this is one of those times where it’s a good idea.
---
### Author:  [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/12 "2012-01-05T00:20:01Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#):
>
> That wasn’t an abortion.
[According to Santorum,](http://www.issues2000.org/2012/Rick_Santorum_Abortion.htm)the morning after pill is abortion. I imagine doctors taking actions that lead to (pre-viability) labor and fetus death would meet his criteria, if taking a pill that prevents implantation in the uterus qualifies as an abortion.
---
### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/13 "2012-01-05T00:20:33Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> I think it’s very doubtful that this counts as an abortion.
Tell that to those seeking to outlaw it, as they typically call the procedure performed a “partial birth abortion.”
---
### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/14 "2012-01-05T00:20:44Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#):
>
> The pictures they took are all the Santorums will ever have of a little boy they watched grow to a child & young man in their minds.
I’ve no doubt it was heartbreaking, but that’s some messed-up shit right there.
---
### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/15 "2012-01-05T00:21:24Z")
I’d say it counts more as a miscarriage – the fetus was basically dead either way. I think even the Catholic church allows for an abortion – or rather, if the treatment for the mother causes an abortion, it’s permitted. (Such as removing the fallopian tube in case of an eptopic pregnancy?)
In the past, such a thing wasn’t uncommon. To the Santorums, that was their child who had passed away. I absolutely loathe Rick Santorum, but to attack the family for grieving the way they did is pretty low.
That was the only time they were going to spend with Gabriel, and I don’t really blame them. And no, it’s not “messed up shit.” It’s probably more common than you think. Look up “mortuary photos”.
---
### Author:  [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/16 "2012-01-05T00:23:30Z")
To be clear- I’m not attacking Santorum for his behavior with his family after whatever happened in the hospital. I’m saying he’s a hypocrite for wanting to an outlaw a procedure that his wife had.
---
### Author:  [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/17 "2012-01-05T00:24:40Z")
I think the point people are making is that he is (is he? I’m not entirely sure) trying to make it illegal to do the very thing he did. Not just abortions in general, but these exact procedures that would save lives. Correct me if I’m wrong. The article wasn’t entirely clear to me.
---
### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2012, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/18 "2012-01-05T00:28:27Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#):
>
> To be clear- I’m not attacking Santorum for his behavior with his family after whatever happened in the hospital. I’m saying he’s a hypocrite for wanting to an outlaw a procedure that his wife had.
I didn’t think you were.
---
### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/19 "2012-01-05T00:29:38Z")
Given that the RCC doesn’t allow straight-up abortion even in the case of ectopic pregnancy (they require that part of the Fallopian tube be excised thus indirectly causing the death of the embryo and, oh by the way, causing damage to the woman’s reproductive system which is completely unnecessary, but I digress), I’m pretty sure it’s a no-no even to save the woman’s life. And that includes, as far as I understand it, inducing labor.
That being said, the Santorums were considering it, but they didn’t ever appear to do it. Still, I would have thought they would have gained a shred of self-awareness through this event, but I guess not.
---
### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438/20 "2012-01-05T00:39:13Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#):
>
> Tell that to those seeking to outlaw it, as they typically call the procedure performed a “partial birth abortion.”
What they had wasn’t a dilation and extraction, and my understanding is that that’s what “partial birth abortion” usually means. I’m not surprised the law is less specific. If Santorum’s cohorts on the far right want to tear him to ribbons over this, I wouldn’t stop them. But I’m less comfortable with his opponents going after him.
> [@Guinastasia](#):
>
> I absolutely loathe Rick Santorum, but to attack the family for grieving the way they did is pretty low.
It’s not an attack to be a little creeped out by that story. I won’t claim to understand what it’s like to lose a child that way, but it really is a little creepy.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/santorums-wife-had-an-abortion/608438.md?page=2)