Rick Santorum authorized a ‘partial birth abortion’ for his wife.

[proud2BlibKansan]

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/page/249918RickSantorumauthorizeda_par

Way to go, Rick! How very 'pro-life' of you.

Just one question - Did Rick bring this dead fetus home for his children to bond with? Or was that just a one time deal?

http://www.alan.com/2009/08/13/rick-santorum-took-dead-baby-home-to-meet-family/

[MrScorpio]

1. PIE-YOW!!

How do we spread this info around?

[RandySF]

2. Wait a second

I thought I once heard him call it a miscarriage.

[janet118]

7. The story according to Joe Klein

The Santorums went to Philadelphia to undergo a procedure where a plastic shunt was inserted into the baby's bladder and used to channel the fetal urine into the womb. Initially the outcome looked good, but Karen soon suffered an infection from the operation, and she went into premature labor. The Santorums decided against aborting their baby. For Rick and Karen Santorum, the birth of their premature son, Gabriel Michael, on October 11, 1996, confirmed their beliefs about partial-birth abortion; the idea that the state might condone violence against this tiny but undeniably human creature seemed impossibly barbaric. Their baby died 2 hours after birth.

New Yorker

[Maru Kitteh]

13. That's how it works for the anti-choice crowd. When they need one it's not a "real" abortion.

Funny how that works.

[malaise]

19. +1,000

Fucking hypocrites!

[Maru Kitteh]

46. Same with drug convictions. When they do it..... It's "youthful indiscretion."

And theft, fraud, taxes...... it's a long list.

[customerserviceguy]

3. Well, if the fundies see it this way

Santorum's dead to them. But they still have Bachmann.

[RandySF]

4. I'm having trouble with the veracity of the original article.

The end makes me wonder if it's satire.

http://early-onset-of-night.tumblr.com/post/6502308112/our-abortion-was-different-when-the-anti-choice

[madfloridian]

6. No it is all quite true. No satire.

"In his Senate office, on a shelf next to an autographed baseball, Sen. Rick Santorum keeps a framed photo of his son Gabriel Michael, the fourth of his seven children. Named for two archangels, Gabriel Michael was born prematurely, at 20 weeks, on Oct. 11, 1996, and lived two hours outside the womb.

Upon their son's death, Rick and Karen Santorum opted not to bring his body to a funeral home. Instead, they bundled him in a blanket and drove him to Karen's parents' home in Pittsburgh. There, they spent several hours kissing and cuddling Gabriel with his three siblings, ages 6, 4 and 1 1/2. They took photos, sang lullabies in his ear and held a private Mass.

"That's my little guy," Santorum says, pointing to the photo of Gabriel, in which his tiny physique is framed by his father's hand. The senator often speaks of his late son in the present tense. It is a rare instance in which he talks softly.

He and Karen brought Gabriel's body home so their children could "absorb and understand that they had a brother," Santorum says. "We wanted them to see that he was real," not an abstraction, he says. Not a "fetus," either, as Rick and Karen were appalled to see him described -- "a 20-week-old fetus" -- on a hospital form. They changed the form to read "20-week-old baby."

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/7723

[pnwmom]

9. It is certainly at least PART satire.

This sentence, for example:

Abortion in any form is wrong,” said Santorum in 2000, three years after the tragedy. “Except for my wife. If your wife’s life was at stake and the only thing that could save her was an abortion, well, too bad. Your wife will have to die. It was different with my wife. You see, I love her. I don’t even know your wife’s name.”

[pnwmom]

10. That was my reaction, too. The ending made me doubt the whole thing.

[Warren Stupidity]

21. Try WaPo 2005

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A61804-2005Apr17?language=printer

still have doubts?

[hedgehog]

36. To be fair - from thhe Washington Post article , this is the procedure

Santorum calls "partial birth abortion"

"He described the process by which a physician "brutally kills" a child "by thrusting a pair of scissors into the back of its skull and suctioning its brains out."

Induced labor of a 20 week fetus and allowing the fetus to die a natural death is one thing. Assisting the death by killing the fetus within the womb is another. I can understand where Santorum is coming from; I can also understand that some might think delivering the fetus and allowing it to die is horrible, that killing it quickly and painlessly is better.

This story that the labor was induced appeared this week. Every other story I've seen suggested that the Santorums did every thing possible to prevent labor. Regardless, it illustrates why this is a question for those directly involved and now for the legal system.

[Warren Stupidity]

38. That is because he is a fucking liar.

What he would ban is all procedures, including the one used to save the life of his wife.

[madfloridian]

64. Exactly right. He would let a woman die rather than have a late-term.

[msanthrope]

47. Not only is it satire, the original author now has posts up explaining satire

to the sarcasm impaired. Funny. I would have expected teachers to read the original source.

[madfloridian]

5. Indeed he took it home. Here is more.

I posted about it the other day, and some were quite critical because I thought it was strange.

Especially strange since he plans to combine his religious with government.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/7723

"In his Senate office, on a shelf next to an autographed baseball, Sen. Rick Santorum keeps a framed photo of his son Gabriel Michael, the fourth of his seven children. Named for two archangels, Gabriel Michael was born prematurely, at 20 weeks, on Oct. 11, 1996, and lived two hours outside the womb.

Upon their son's death, Rick and Karen Santorum opted not to bring his body to a funeral home. Instead, they bundled him in a blanket and drove him to Karen's parents' home in Pittsburgh. There, they spent several hours kissing and cuddling Gabriel with his three siblings, ages 6, 4 and 1 1/2. They took photos, sang lullabies in his ear and held a private Mass.

"That's my little guy," Santorum says, pointing to the photo of Gabriel, in which his tiny physique is framed by his father's hand. The senator often speaks of his late son in the present tense. It is a rare instance in which he talks softly.

He and Karen brought Gabriel's body home so their children could "absorb and understand that they had a brother," Santorum says. "We wanted them to see that he was real," not an abstraction, he says. Not a "fetus," either, as Rick and Karen were appalled to see him described -- "a 20-week-old fetus" -- on a hospital form. They changed the form to read "20-week-old baby."

[pnwmom]

11. I don't see what's so strange about this. People have different ways of grieving. n/t

[madfloridian]

15. He wants to make his religion part of government. So that makes it disturbing.

[pnwmom]

16. Your journal makes it appear that you think their grieving is shocking.

As it states:

"Our country must be in dire straits right about now if this is not considered shocking. I can not imagine this man in the White House.

Father First, Senator Second

In his Senate office, on a shelf next to an autographed baseball, Sen. Rick Santorum keeps a framed photo of his son Gabriel Michael, the fourth of his seven children. Named for two archangels, Gabriel Michael was born prematurely, at 20 weeks, on Oct. 11, 1996, and lived two hours outside the womb.

Upon their son's death, Rick and Karen Santorum opted not to bring his body to a funeral home. Instead, they bundled him in a blanket and drove him to Karen's parents' home in Pittsburgh. There, they spent several hours kissing and cuddling Gabriel with his three siblings, ages 6, 4 and 1 1/2. They took photos, sang lullabies in his ear and held a private Mass.

"That's my little guy," Santorum says, pointing to the photo of Gabriel, in which his tiny physique is framed by his father's hand. The senator often speaks of his late son in the present tense. It is a rare instance in which he talks softly.

SNIP

[madfloridian]

30. "they spent several hours kissing and cuddling Gabriel with his three siblings..."

ages 6, 4 and 1 1/2.

Yes, I was raised in the very religious household, but I do find it shocking to require young children to kiss the dead for hours.

So feel free to criticize me, but I do find it shocking.

[pnwmom]

32. Nowhere does it say that these three children were "required"

to do anything for hours. The grieving parents brought their dead son home and expressed their affection by holding him and kissing him, and allowed their other children to see and touch and kiss him, too. What you find shocking is a scene that exists only in your imagination: very small children being forced to kiss a dead sibling for hours. How ridiculous.

[AngryAmish]

42. I hope you never have to deal with the death of a child.

It makes you do strange things.

[pnwmom]

51. I'm sure it does -- which is why I'm not criticizing these parents.

[AngryAmish]

53. you know what? I totally misread your post.

My fault.

HEY LOOK, EVERYONE - pnwnom is right and I'm wrong. Public apology.

[pnwmom]

57. No problem -- thanks for clarifying.

I thought maybe you had me mixed up with the previous poster anyway.

:hi:

[jmowreader]

8. Uhh...I hate to tell ya, but...

inducing labor isn't "partial birth abortion." That's something else entirely.

But you make it sound like Rick Santorum's wife is one of Pennsylvania's leading producers of dead fetuses and he brings them all home. This is the famous dead fetus he brought home; so far as I know there have been no others.

[RandySF]

17. And one more thing.

While Santrorum's treatment of the deceased child was over the top, giving a name is not at all unheard of.

[jmowreader]

56. I don't have any problem with the name

Nor do I have a problem with the Santorums having the hospital change the form from "a 20-week-old fetus" to "a 20-week-old baby." It WAS a live birth, after all.

And okay, taking the dead baby home overnight was REALLY fuckin' strange, but it works for him.

The problem is, if Rick Santorum had the laws he wants, his wife would be dead. She wouldn't be "in heaven with Jesus and the Angels." She wouldn't be "sleeping." SHE WOULD BE FUCKING DEAD. And he wants YOUR WIFE to be FUCKING DEAD if the same thing happens to her. Okay? There is a difference between being weird and WANTING YOUR WIFE TO FUCKING DIE. Being weird is okay. Wanting your wife dead is not.

[Warren Stupidity]

20. uhh...I hate to tell ya, but....

it killed the 20 week fetus. Yes it wasn't a 'partial' birth abortion, it was a full birth abortion. It was done to save the life of the mother, and the aptly named Santorum would deny you the right to do what he did. Plus the rest of the story is beyond bizarre.

[jmowreader]

58. Warren, the 20-week-old fetus had one foot in the grave

The child was going to die. The question was, do we allow the child to die in an incubator and bury it in three days, or do we allow it to die in Mrs. Santorum and bury HER in three days?

I think we all know this. The problem is, Santorum does not. According to a guy like him it would be God's Will that his wife die. It's also God's Will that people who come down with acute appendicitis die, and we don't seem to have any problem whatsoever with taking them to the hospital, putting three holes in their bellies and thwarting God's Will. Maybe Santorum will ban appendectomies too?

[Warren Stupidity]

59. You do understand that Santorum would deny everyone else

the right to do what he did? You do not see a problem? It wasn't God's will when his family was involved: he opted for medical intervention to save his wife's life. That is the only issue here.

[jmowreader]

61. I understand perfectly

I also understand his views are not outside the mainstream Republican worldview...I believe most if not all of them would ban abortion in all circumstances because those "lazy selfish women who couldn't keep their pants on" would just find a doctor who'd falsely claim they had a life threatening condition.

I also think they'd execute any woman who had an abortion, ever, if they could.

Get out your copy of The Handmaid's Tale and imagine the Gilead government turned up to double volume, and that's what our Republican Party wants to do.

[xphile]

54. Isn't taking one dead fetus home enough? And plenty disgusting in its own right. n/t

[pnwmom]

12. Read the last sentence. Doesn't that sound like a joke to you?

“Abortion in any form is wrong,” said Santorum in 2000, three years after the tragedy. “Except for my wife. If your wife’s life was at stake and the only thing that could save her was an abortion, well, too bad. Your wife will have to die. It was different with my wife. You see, I love her. I don’t even know your wife’s name.”

[msanthrope]

49. the original author of the blog now has a post up explaining satire.

You and I got it.

[iamtechus]

14. Thanks, thanks a lot.

Now every time I hear his name I'll have a vision of him smooching a dead baby -- SICK!

[Inspired]

18. There are many reasons to ridicule Santorum.

This isn't one of them, imo.

[Warren Stupidity]

22. So you are ok with his narcissistic hypocrisy?

Ok for me and mine, not for you and yours? Nothing wrong there?

[Inspired]

40. No, not OK with it at all but I won't ridicule how he dealt with his grief.

Which I believe was sincere.

[yellowcanine]

43. It is not clear that the claim of the OP is correct. And the article at the link has a lot of

satire in it - not clear which is fact and which is satire.

[msanthrope]

50. He took the fetus home. The rest is complete satire, including the quotes. nt

[Atman]

23. I hate to say it, but my wife says this isn't totally unusual.

She's an APRN, long background in family practice. She says part of grief counseling often recommended for parents who lose a baby at birth is to dress him, name him, bond, say your good byes, just as one might with any other deceased loved one. She said the odd part is, of course, sleeping with the body. My wife is as Democratic as I am, but she wasn't willing to call this a "character" issue. You or I might not approve, but it's not the freakish thing many are making out to be.

Personally, I think it's weird...but she's the professional, she's dealt with this kind of thing before, so I'm going to have to defer to her and cut the Santorum's some slack.

[Atman]

24. Okay, read the second story first...I just read the abortion story.

THAT is the character issue, as others have pointed out -- the hypocrisy. Now, maybe Santorum has arrived at his current anti-abortion stance (btw, wife says this was not an abortion...they delivered the baby) as a form of personal atonement or something, but still, it strikes me as terribly hypocritical to be talking about putting others in jail for performing a procedure which may have saved his wife's life. Or maybe he doesn't consider it an abortion, since technically it was not.

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. And taking it home to meet its siblings?

That's the sick part, IMO. He and his wife can do whatever they want, But doing this to small children is sick.

[Atman]

33. No, she said that is part of the process.

My first reaction was to also say that it was sick. But, think about any family expecting a new baby...the baby becomes a part of the family long before it is born. You prepare and prep and set up nurseries, and get sonogram pictures and pick names. As I said, grief counseling in these situations often recommends allowing the children to say good-bye to the brother or sister they were expecting to come home. Again, I think it is weird. I've never had any reason to be involved in this stuff, but my wife has, and she says this is what grief counselors recommend for many families.

[joeglow3]

44. I pray you are never in this situation.

A friend of ours had this and that is EXACTLY how it was dealt with. The kids knew mommy was pregnant, they knew a baby was coming, they knew something was wrong and they all wanted to "meet" and say goodbye to their sibling. This is FAR from sick and I am saddened to see so many liberals so quick to label and judge.

[proud2BlibKansan]

45. I never will be in this situation

But if I knew someone who did this, I'd be tempted to report them for child abuse. It has nothing to do with being a liberal, it's about not doing this to children.

[joeglow3]

52. Why?

What is your reasoning? Everything I have seen related to coping mechanisms say this is a good thing. I am curious how you came to the conclusion that not only are these people wrong, it actually goes to the point of child abuse.

[Atman]

63. My knee-jerk reaction was also to think "This is SICK!"

But as you and my wife have both pointed out...it is normal. I have never been in this situation, and never will be at this point in my life, but this is apparently what grief counselors advise as a way of gaining closure. As you said, the other children were expecting a new baby brother to come home. The parents can't just pretend nothing happened. I still think it is weird, but I have no idea how I'd think of it if I were in the Santorum's position. Losing a child is never easy, and while we can certainly "judge" Man On Dog for his other issues, it just isn't right to jump all over the family for doing something that is considered normal by professionals who actually know more about it than we do.

[madfloridian]

31. The very young children had to kiss him for hours.

Sorry, but that is a thing that is shocking.

[Atman]

35. How do you know they "had to kiss him for hours?"

The article says no such thing. It says the family hugged and kissed him and sang lullabies -- again, my wife says this is often a recommended part of the grieving process -- but nowhere does it say anyone "had to" do this for hours. You took a lot away from one sentence.

I can't tell you how shocked I am at reading myself defending Santorum. And frankly, if my wife had not been nearby when I read the story, and she heard me gasp before I read it to her, I'd probably be much more freaked out. I'm still freaked out a bit...but the fact of the matter is, what they did just isn't that unusual. I hope you or me or anyone reading this never is put in that situation...obviously the Santorum's love their family and their children. The loss of an almost-viable sibling was very hard on them. I will jump all over Santorum's shit for a lot of things, like his policies, but I'm not willing to go so far as to pass judgment on what a parent does when their child dies.

[proud2BlibKansan]

39. Santorum wrote about it in his book

[Erose999]

25. If only he'd authorized one for himself too...

[Erose999]

26. Santorum will be on the lips of all Republican voters. I heard Sarah Palin has Santorum in her eye

as she looks for a possible running mate.

[ScreamingMeemie]

27. I hear they make drops for that now...

[lynne]

28. Based on story at link, this is the dead baby that they brought home -

- the story gives the child's name, a quick google say's they're one-in-the-same.

[kath]

55. FYI, it's "one and the same", not "one in the same"

http://www.grammarist.com/style/one-in-the-same/

[economistman]

34. I saw this too, so sick of these fucking double standards

[lame54]

37. did he then have the Dr. arrested?

[yellowcanine]

41. Not a fan of Santorum but I think this is inaccurate.

Everything I have seen is that his wife went into premature labor after she developed an infection from a procedure to correct a problem with the fetus. Sorry but that isn't the same as "authorizing a partial birth abortion" and we ought not to be claiming that without good evidence.

[msanthrope]

48. Unrec for failure to recognize satire. Clearly marked satire, at that.

In fact the original author of the piece has now helpfully posted the definition of satire.

I would expect this from LGF. But I would expect the OP to have read the original, clearly marked source.

[pacalo]

60. Well, now, this HYPOCRITE with double standards should have DAVID VITTER as his

running mate. Both like to point fingers & preach FAMILY VALUES & eviscerate WOMEN'S RIGHTS while doing the opposite of what they preach.

And are allowed to CONTINUE ON like NOTHING HAPPENED.

[Liberal_in_LA]

62. 'authorized'? Is she his property?