Contact: Keith Ashley, Personhood USA, 205-595-3500
WASHINGTON, June 20, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Republican presidential candidate, Rick Santorum, was a guest on NBC's Meet the Press last week where he fielded questions on a range of topics including abortion. Santorum has taken some heat in recent months over comments he made comparing the denial of preborn children's status as legal persons to the plight of black Americans during slavery. Undeterred, the former Pennsylvania Senator used his appearance on the talk show to advocate for the personhood rights of the preborn.
Host David Gregory broached the subject by posing a single question regarding Santorum's stance on exceptions in abortion law. "Do you believe that there should be any legal exceptions for rape or incest when it comes to abortion?" he asked.
To the point, Santorum simply stated that preborn persons should be protected by law. "I believe that life begins at conception and that life should be guaranteed under the Constitution. That is a person," he responded.
Gregory pressed, "So even in the cases of rape or incest, that would be taking a life?"
Santorum clarified that although he supports the prosecution of abortionists, he does not support criminal penalties for women participating in abortion. "I would advocate that any doctor that performs an abortion should be criminally charged for doing so. I've never supported criminalization of abortion for mothers, but I do for people who perform them," he said.
Summing up his position, Santorum appealed to the foundation of law and human rights. "I believe that life is sacred. It's one of those things in the Declaration of Independence. We are endowed by our Creator 'with certain unalienable Rights,' and the first is life. I believe that life should be protected at the moment it is a human life, and at conception, it is biologically human and it's alive. It's a human life. It should be a person under the Constitution," he concluded.
"The truth is infectious. And the truth is that everyone's life had a beginning at the moment the gametes united to form a unique and invaluable person," said Keith Mason, co-founder of Personhood USA. "Abortion is a crime. I submit that as we continue to defend the paramount rights of the preborn, we will begin to see our elected officials standing on principle."
