It’s fitting that the same day Michigan Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land released an ad attempting to repair her image after weeks of negative press stemming from her comments on pay equity, Rick Santorum’s PAC is announcing its endorsement of her.
Santorum is well known for his opposition to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and his extreme opposition to both birth control and abortion even in the case of rape. It’s no surprise, then, that Santorum would support Land.
For more on Santorum’s extreme record on women’s health and equal pay, see below.
Birth Control
Santorum: “Contraception Is… Not OK. It’s A License To Do Things In The Sexual Realm That Is Counter To How Things Are Supposed To Be.” According to the Huffington Post, “Birth control, even within marriage, violates his beliefs as a Roman Catholic. Last year Santorum told the Christian blog Caffeinated Thoughts that as president he would warn the nation about ‘the dangers of contraception’ and the permissive culture it encourages. ‘Many of Christian faith have said, ‘Well, that’s OK. Contraception is OK,’ he said. ‘It’s not OK. It’s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be. … If it’s not for purposes of procreation, then you diminish this very special bond between men and women.’” [Huffington Post, 2/17/12]
Santorum Said That Taking A “Sexual Union” Out Of Marriage Would “Diminish The Act.” According to a transcript of Rick Santorum obtained via Time, “They’re supposed to be within marriage, they are supposed to be for purposes that are, yes, conjugal, but also [inaudible], but also procreative. That’s the perfect way that a sexual union should happen. We take any part of that out, we diminish the act.” [Rick Santorum – Time, 2/14/12]
Santorum: “I Don’t Think It Works. I Think It’s Harmful To Women. I Think It’s Harmful To Our Society To Have A Society That Says That Sex Outside Of Marriage Is Something That Should Be Encouraged Or Tolerated.” In a Fox News interview, Santorum said, “I guess it is and have voted for contraception, although I don’t think it works. I think it’s harmful to women. I think it’s harmful to our society to have a society that says that sex outside of marriage is something that should be encouraged or tolerated …, particularly among the young and it has I think we’ve seen very, very harmful long-term consequences to the society. Birth control to me enables that and I don’t think it’s a healthy thing for our country.” [Fox News Interview, 8/27/06]
Santorum Believed That A State Should Have The Right To Ban Contraception. According to ABC News, “One issue was Santorum’s opposition to the Supreme Court’s 1965 ruling that invalidated a Connecticut law banning contraception. Santorum said he still feels that a state should be able to make such laws. ‘The state has a right to do that, I have never questioned that the state has a right to do that. It is not a constitutional right, the state has the right to pass whatever statues they have. That is the thing I have said about the activism of the Supreme Court, they are creating rights, and they should be left up to the people to decide,’ he said.” [ABC News, 1/2/12]
Pregnancy Resulting from Rape
Santorum Said Pregnancies From Rape Should Be Brought To Term. According to The Boston Globe, “In January, Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, opined that a pregnancy that results from a rape, though horribly created, is nevertheless ‘the gift of human life,’ that a woman should ‘accept what God has given to you,’ and that the ‘right’ thing to do is to carry the pregnancy to term.” [The Boston Globe, 8/24/12]
Santorum Suggested Doctors Who Performed Abortions On Rape Victims Should Be Jailed. According to CNN Wire, “Former presidential hopeful Rick Santorum suggested doctors who perform an abortion on a woman who becomes pregnant from an attack should be thrown in jail and this year suggested rape victims who become pregnant from an attack should be forced to keep the baby and ‘make the best out of a bad situation.’” [CNN Wire, 8/21/12]
Santorum Suggested Rape Victims Should “Make The Best Out Of A Bad Situation.” During a January 20, 2012, interview with Piers Morgan on CNN, Santorum said “Well, you can make the argument that if she doesn’t have this baby, if she kills her child, that that, too, could ruin her life. And this is not an easy choice. I understand that. As horrible as the way that that son or daughter and son was created, it still is her child. And whether she has that child or doesn’t, it will always be her child. And she will always know that. And so to embrace her and to love her and to support her and get her through this very difficult time, I’ve always, you know, I believe and I think the right approach is to accept this horribly created — in the sense of rape — but nevertheless a gift in a very broken way, the gift of human life, and accept what God has given to you. As you know, we have to, in lots of different aspects of our life. We have horrible things happen. I can’t think of anything more horrible. But, nevertheless, we have to make the best out of a bad situation.” [CNN, 1/20/12]
Equal Pay
Santorum: “The Lilly Ledbetter Bill… Had Nothing To Do With Changing The Law With Respect To Pay For Women Or Rights For Women.” According to the Washington Post, “‘It’s very interesting that what Barack Obama pointed to was a trial lawyer’s bill,’ Santorum told me after his brief speech. ‘The Lilly Ledbetter bill basically gives women a longer period of time to file a lawsuit,’ he said. ‘This was advocated by the trial lawyers so they could make more money. This had nothing to do with changing the law with respect to pay for women or rights for women. It simply gave lawyers a longer time to sue. This is the kind of small ball this president is playing. He’s not talking about major issues that can improve the employment picture for women or for people in this country. He’s talking about taking care of his friends in the trial bar.’” [Washington Post, 10/18/12]
Santorum Said That More Women Were Working Outside The Home Due To “Radical Feminism.” According to the Post-Gazette, “Many women, he adds, have told him that it is more ‘socially affirming to work outside the home than to give up their careers to take care of their children.’ That ideology, he says, has been shaped by feminists who demean the work of women who stay at home as primary caregivers. ‘What happened in America so that mothers and fathers who leave their children in the care of someone else — or worse yet, home alone after school between three and six in the afternoon — find themselves more affirmed by society? Here, we can thank the influence of radical feminism,’ Santorum writes.” [Post-Gazette, 7/6/05]
Todd Akin
Santorum Endorsed Todd Akin Even After His “Legitimate Rape” Comments. According to CNN, “Sen. Jim DeMint and former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Wednesday morning endorsed Missouri Rep. Todd Akin, who is seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill and made headlines for his controversial comments on rape earlier this fall. On Tuesday – the last day Akin could legally request his name be removed from the November ballot – the congressman set out on a bus tour of the state. His move defied calls from a number of Republicans and GOP groups – including his state’s Republican party – to quit the race, concerned his continued candidacy would challenge their chances of winning control of the Senate.” [CNN, 9/26/12]
Published: Apr 22, 2014