WEST DES MOINES — A day after officially entering the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Rick Santorum waded into a controversy that threatens to further delay the Iowa Legislature’s adjournment.
Before a meeting with Iowa Right to Life, Santorum offered his support for legislation being considered by the Iowa House to ban late-term abortions and, in a broader sense, allowing states to legislate access to abortions.
“I think most Americans are uncomfortable with late-term abortions,” the former Pennsylvania U.S. senator said Tuesday in West Des Moines. “Where do you draw the line? I draw the line at the moment that the child is human being, which is at the moment of conception.”
While the Iowa proposal would restrict abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy, Santorum said Congress and states should be able legislate abortion access “even beyond 22 weeks.”
Santorum is glad that his rivals for the GOP nomination also are anti-abortion, “but none of them have really taken the role of leadership on this issue,” he told reporters.
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He co-sponsored legislation addressing Dr. LeRoy Carhart’s later-term abortion practice while still in the U.S. Senate. Carhart is at the center of the Iowa discussion as some state lawmakers try to prevent him from opening a Council Bluffs clinic where late-term abortions would be performed. Carhart wants to open a clinic there because of changes in the Nebraska law that limit his practice.
“I was the author of partial-birth abortion statute. I was the author of the born alive protection act. I was a leader on the unborn victims of violence act, I was a leader on embryonic stem research,” Santorum said. “These are initiatives that I took the lead on a national scale and took to the floor of the United States Senate and argued those things.”
He argued that the issue separates him from the GOP pack.
Santorum, who described himself as a “consistent conservative” who is active on cultural issues, economic issues, national security issues — “the full spectrum” — wants to see the U.S. Supreme Court decision that opened the door for legal abortion, Roe vs. Wade, overturned.
A late-term abortion ban would be “a good place to test the court.”
“I think anytime we can bring a decision to the court and give them an opportunity to relook at abortion cases is a good thing and if the federal government wanted to do that I certainly wouldn’t oppose,” he said.
Earlier, appearing on WHO Radio, Santorum emphasized his “full spectrum” conservative political positions, touching on Social Security, border security, Libya and other issues.
Santorum, who said he was making his 14th visit to Iowa of this election cycle, said he is running because he believes this is the most critical time in the nation’s history.
“I want my children to be free. I want my children to live in a country that the government doesn’t tell them what they have to do, what insurance they have to buy, what car they have to drive,” he said.
