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Column - Santorum’s religious-based platform violates rights

Published: Sunday, February 19, 2012

Updated: Monday, February 20, 2012 00:02

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AP

Republican presidential candidate, former-Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, center, bows his head during a prayer at the Ohio Christian Alliance luncheon Saturday.

While Pennsylvanian ex-Senator Rick Santorum's campaign is fueled by his Roman Catholic beliefs and focused around the traditional family, it is too conservative to fit in with the lifestyle of today's American citizens.

Santorum's narrow-minded political agenda regarding birth control and abortion violates women's rights regarding their bodies and mixes politics and religion – something the founding fathers tried to prevent.

According to Santorum's campaign website, his executive orders are to repeal Title X, which provides funds for family planning groups as well as Planned Parenthood. Repealing this would eliminate access to preventative health care services for women.

Women's access to abortion services as well as breast cancer screening services would also be limited.

In the 2009/10 Planned Parenthood annual report, the organization provided $699.2 million worth of medical services and performed about 750,000 breast cancer screenings within the last year, according to The Los Angeles

In 2010, cancer screening and prevention made up 14.5 percent of medical services, while abortion services amounted to 3 percent of Planned Parenthood's services. Planned Parenthood also provides sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment as well as contraception. Together, these two services made up 71 percent of the organization's medical services.

These services are too important to American society and the control women have of their bodies and their right to make informed decisions about family planning, sex and their health.

Santorum plans to use the Department of Health and Human Services to separate abortion from family planning as well as ban abortion referrals and repeal the Obamacare mandate for contraceptives, which requires employers to provide free contraceptives for female employees.

When it comes to sex education, Santorum supports an abstinence-only curriculum. While abstinence is the only surefire way to not get pregnant, it does not reduce the amount of sex teens are having, and it does not decrease pregnancy or sexually transmitted infection rates.

This curriculum does not work because it does not provide safe-sex information to sexually active teens. These teens may not make informed decisions about contraception because they were taught that sex is bad and pre-marital sex would keep them from going to heaven.

Santorum has also said he would not ban birth control, but he believes states should hold that right. Birth control violates his Roman Catholic beliefs, and he even opposes the use of birth control in marriages.

"‘It's (contraception) 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,'" Santorum said to The Huffington Post.

However, according to ABC News, 84 percent of Catholics approve of birth control and 89 percent of Catholic women think it should be available to women who cannot afford it. Only 8 percent of all Americans think birth control is wrong.

A woman's body is not a government-issued object; therefore, it should not be subjected to government regulation. These policies erase the progress the U.S. is making toward gender equality and sets time backwards.

His agenda limits the choices women have regarding their health and freedom. A 16-year-old girl should not have to be forced to having a child she does not want. She has her whole life ahead of her, and she should not have to be forced into being affected by one mistake if it can be dealt with.

The reality of being pregnant is scary and life changing – women should have options.

The next president needs to support equality among all citizens. Since Obama became president in 2008, the U.S. has made huge social changes, and the close-minded agenda of Santorum is going to move that progress backwards.

Voters should support candidates who are striving for gender equality, as well as freedom of sexuality, religion and control over our bodies. Voters should not support candidates who are trying to do the opposite.

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8 comments

Anonymous
Thu Feb 23 2012 15:15
I believe it is a woman's right to do what she pleases with her body. However, I don't feel it is the responsibility of my government and my tax dollars to pay for it. I'm all for contraception, but when it comes down to it, individuals are the ones who should pay for it.
Anonymous
Wed Feb 22 2012 10:32
You know what, I'd be fine with banning (or severely limiting) abortions. It's a terrible, cruel thing. But the best way to prevent them is to remove the stigma from sex and start having intelligent, mature discussions about contraception. Sex is a natural part of life, not some sin or special privilege for those bonded through ancient ritual. As long as twisted old men and closeted fundamentalists keep basic, important knowledge out of the hands of people who desperately need it, abortion is going to be a fact of life.

So to every fondling priest out there, every fat woman holding a cardboard sign with some disgusting picture on it, YOU are as responsible for those abortions as the poor girls going through a painful and invasive procedure. YOUR backwards attitudes toward sex, YOUR religious phobia, YOUR desire to treat women as possessions has led us to this. Grow the hell up, realize sex is a part of life, and let people lead their own lives in safety.

Anonymous
Tue Feb 21 2012 10:16
Santorum has never said that he would ban contraception or abortions all together. What he has said is that he is going to pull/reduce FEDERAL funding for it. And to that point, so what? If you can't afford birth control and still choose to have sex, why is it everybody elses responsibility to pay for it? In cases of rape/sexual crimes there are private organizations that would help. If planned parenthood is no longer federally funded whats to stop private donations to keep it going or take over majority of the cost?

Danielle says "A woman's body is not a government-issued object; therefore, it should not be subjected to government regulation". However, if you're using government to fund and provide medicine/contraception for a woman are you not subject to the stipulations set by the government? I have no problem with women using contraception, in whatever capacity her and her doctor see fit. What I have a problem with is everybody else footing the bill (i.e. taking responsibility for) the life choices a woman makes.

Anonymous
Mon Feb 20 2012 22:59
Having to carry around a baby for nine months and having to give it away is one of the most traumatizing things a woman could ever have to do; she could be scarred for life. During or after that nine month period, the woman will have to drop out of school or go on leave from work to take care of the child. Another thing, women who are victims of rape never asked to be raped or to become pregnant from it. The woman never consented to it, regardless of what she said, wore, or did. It is beyond ignorant for any one to say that a woman deserved to be raped. And you're right, women's bodies are not diseased, but no one is pressuring any one to have sex, or take birth control. It's a personal choice, and women should have that option to protect themselves. Also, Rick Santorum does not stand up for women's rights; he believes women should give up their careers to support his 1950's "Leave It To Beaver" idea of a traditional family. That does nothing for women. Read "The Feminine Mystique" by Betty Friedan. It propelled the second wave of feminism, and spoke to a lot of housewives who thought they were the reason they were unsatisfied with their lives, as it turns out, most of them were unsatisfied because they could not pursue the things that they wanted. His beliefs are based on his Roman Catholic faith, which, even though not directly stated in the Constitution, should be separate from the federal government. This is America, where people are supposed to be able to practice religion freely, and be free to do what we want with our bodies. Some people believe in the use of birth control, others do not, but that percentage should not tell the other what they can and can't do with their bodies just because that's what their religion says. I'm not Roman Catholic, I do not want my actions to be shaped by something I do not follow.
Anonymous
Mon Feb 20 2012 22:44
Your right, murder is a right.... duh! Yes it is a wonderful choice to separate a humans limbs and body parts while they scream and writhe in pain. Typical liberal, you can educate them all you want but they are still void of intelligence and enlightenment and they are ruled by their emotions and feelings instead of fact and moral values. Please feel free to do real research and obtain reliable and vetted sources. Really? ABC? You should ask them for an internship, you would fit right in, another mindless, amoral talking head. Of course there might not be a challenge there for you, because you be able to sit on your lazy a_ _ and become a mouth piece for liberal propaganda diarrhea, kind of like you are doing now. The bonus is you will be able to maintain your unaccountability to good reason.. Let me guess... you believe in global warming from green house gases! What a maroon! I've got a position for you, you can hold a sign that says "Stop Global Warming" and pace up and down the streets of Seattle every day wearing grunge and stinking of body odor. Another rebel without a clue.
Anonymous
Mon Feb 20 2012 20:11
When will society learn to respect women? Fertility is not a disease, but it sure is being treated like one. If you don't want pregnancy, then don't have sex or practice natural family planning. Women are not ill, but people sure act like we are- pressuring us to taking pills everyday just because we have the ability to have children. Vote for a candidate who stands up for women and doesn't try to take away our womanhood. Vote for Rick Santorum.
Anonymous
Mon Feb 20 2012 19:51
A woman should have the right to choose what she does with her body, but the baby is NOT her body. No one should ever have the right to take away a life of a child.
Anonymous
Mon Feb 20 2012 12:00
"His agenda limits the choices women have regarding their health and freedom. A 16-year-old girl should not have to be forced to having a child she does not want."

She had her choice when she decided to engage in sex in the first place. But even still, she has options. Keep the baby, or give it up for adoption. Those are legit options. I know many couples who would love to take in the child.







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