Flyer Assails Santorum, Wife for Not Being Anti-Abortion
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(GREENVILLE, S.C.) — On cars outside of a forum to discuss anti-abortion rights with the GOP candidates, a bright pink, neatly folded flyer tucked into windshields blasted Rick Santorum and his wife Karen on the issue, claiming they are not as anti-abortion as they claim to be.
The former Pennsylvania senator is staunchly anti-abortion rights in all cases including rape and incest, something he discussed Wednesday night at the Personhood forum at the Hilton in Greenville, S.C. But the flyer claims that’s not true.
South Carolina has a long history of dirty politics and with only three days before South Carolinians go to the polls, it seems the tradition may be continuing, although Santorum also encountered similar flyers in Iowa accusing him of not being anti-abortion.
The flyer begins, “Dear Pro-Life friend,” and starts with a compliment.
“Like many Christians I know, I was originally very attracted to Rick Santorum’s positions-especially on the Right to Life issue,” the flyer reads. “But that was before I began digging into his record.”
The flyer then takes a quote from Santorum early in his career in which he admits that he was not focused on abortion. It’s something he repeats on the campaign trail and he says it wasn’t until he sat down with the man who would be his father-in-law, a pediatrician who persuaded him to be so passionate about restricting access to abortion and trying to outlaw it, that he redirected his focus.
The paper then mentions a Newsweek story released this week that features an interview with a former boyfriend of Santorum’s wife, Karen. They dated before she knew her husband, over 20 years ago, but the article reveals the boyfriend was an OB-GYN who also performed abortions.
“Did you know Rick Santorum’s wife, Karen, had a six-year affair with an abortionist named Tom Allen?” the flyer reads. “This abortion doctor was 30 years her senior! In fact, he delivered her as a baby! The only reason they broke up was that Karen wanted kids-while Tom was busy killing them.”
The letter is signed by Elizabeth Leichert from Parker, S.C., who calls the candidate “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” and writes, “He just wants to be President so badly, he’ll say anything to be elected.”
Santorum addressed the forum Wednesday evening and said the issue of abortion is “at the heart of my political career” and something he “stood for and worked for.”
“It’s one thing to say ‘pro-life,’ it’s another to lead the charge to make people respect the dignity of life,” Santorum said, before stressing his anti-abortion bonafides over his opponents. “If you look at the track record of everyone in the race … I’ve done that fighting for life.”
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio