From the Archives, I originally published this piece last summer, but felt it deserved a second publication since Rick Santorum has become competitive in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
Regarding the “miscarriage” of Karen Santorum in the 1990s, Karen and Rick Santorum have said that they did not induce labor. However, Karen Santorum said she would have induced labor if it were necessary. From Santorum's account of her second trimester pregnancy, by Steve Goldstein, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 4, 1997:
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. 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. ”
The fetus was delivered at 20 weeks, at least a month shy of what most doctors consider viability.
So, according to Rick and Karen Santorum, it was purportedly not induced. However, Karen Santorum admits that she would have allowed it to be induced if necessary, thus making a choice that Rick Santorum seeks to deny to other women.
Indeed, if Rick Santorum has his way, abortion will be criminalized, and the same procedure that Karen Santorum would have had to save her life, will not be available to you or I.
