Rick Santorum and Birth Control

Rick Santorum Says Birth control harms women.

As someone who has benefited from birth control most of my married life, seeing that statement come across on the Drudge Report did take me aback. I have never agreed with the Catholic Church's prohibition against contraception, and I can give many good arguments, both biblical and historical, about why I believe they are wrong. Thankfully I am not Catholic, and my husband and I never had to endure guilt when using birth control. My doctor told me after my last high-risk pregnancy that I should not get pregnant again. I would say that in those years between the birth of my third child and my hysterectomy that birth control was a very good thing for me.

Did Rick really say that birth control harms women?

In an election year things are not always what they seem, especially as reported by the Washington Post, a paper most definitely unsympathetic to conservatives. I followed Drudge's link to the Washington Post editorial on how this statement is going to hurt Santorum's electability among women and looked at the clip from a 2006 interview where I heard Santorum say exactly that. I also listened to the entire clip. He explained the official Catholic argument regarding birth control and made it known that this was his personal conviction and that as a legislator he had always supported a woman's right to use birth control. How is this different from President Obama or Catholic politicians like Nancy Pelosi or Teddy Kennedy claiming that they are personally opposed to abortion but support a woman's right to have one? Using the argument from Jennifer Rubin's editorial, Nancy Pelosi and Teddy Kennedy's personal convictions should put them against feminists. Obviously this is not the case. Feminists support Pelosi and supported Teddy Kennedy.

I do believe Santorum expressed himself badly in that 2006 clip, and I hope he has learned some hard lessons from that time when he lost his senatorial reelection bid. What Santorum was really saying was that sex outside of marriage, the sexual revolution that grew from the widespread use of oral contraceptives, has harmed women. I agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment. The sexual revolution has harmed not only women, but men, children, and our society as a whole.

So, if Rick Santorum were to be president, would he take away contraception? Definitely not! If President Barak Obama were to win another term in office, he would take away nuclear warheads from our nation's arsenal and weaken our defenses. President Obama would continue to take away America's prosperity by increasing our debt. By appointing more activist judges to the Supreme Court, he would take away American's rights to carrying and owning guns. Obama's school inspectors now rummage through children's school lunches brought from home. Obama's new IRS agents will take away our freedom to choose not to have health care. In light of that, contraception seems a very small thing. I don't stay up late at night, toss and turn in my bed with fear that Rick Santorum is going to outlaw the pill or pull condoms out of retail stores.

Rick Santorum is clearly a man of principle. Though I don't agree with the Catholic Church on the issue of birth control, I do respect them for standing up against popular opinion. I respect Rick Santorum for obeying the tenants of his church. I would have a very hard time doing so were I a Catholic, which is one reason I am not one.

The only thing I would caution Rick Santorum about is that he needs to remember that America is in a dangerous position right now. This is not the time to bring social issues to the forefront. These issues are important, but they are divisive at a time when freedom loving people of this country cannot afford to be divided. The president of the United States should present a good example of morality, but should not have the power to set that morality or impose it. I think Rick Santorum would agree on that, but he needs to make it clear to the many people out there who have been programmed by the national media to be suspicious of social conservatives.

In this election, concerned Americans cannot be distracted by sound bites and out of context statements. If we are lazy and allow ourselves to be emotionally manipulated by the media, not only will this upcoming election be disastrous for the Republicans, but for the nation as well.