I picked a snippet of Santorum's speech at CPAC today from SavetheGOP.com and transcribed Sen. Rick Santorum (R.-Pa.) really calling out Sen. Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.) on abortion. Here it is:
“I quote in this in my book, a back and forth between the junior senator from New York and me and Sen. Clinton and I got into this debate during the partial-birth abortion debate where she had often criticized me because I had some charts on the board that depicted what a partial birth abortion looked like. It was a graphic depiction using models of what a partial birth abortion looked like and she got up and said that they were deceptive, that they were as deceptive as they were heart-breaking because what did they show? They showed a perfectly formed fetus and that is misleading. Because if we were really going to have this debate we should have a chart that demonstrates the tragic abnormalities that can confront women forced with excruciating, difficult decisions. Where are the swollen heads? Where are the swollen heads? Where are the charts with fetuses with vital organs such as the heart and lungs growing outside of the body? Here’s my response: You [to Clinton] use the term 'where is the brainless head, where are the lungs outside the body. I will just say I will be happy to put a child with a disability up here on this chart. But, frankly, I, we don’t see the difference' "
If we consider a child that may not live long, or may have an abnormality to be any less of a child, if this is less of a human because its less than perfect, have we reached a point in our society where because perfection is required of us that those who are not perfect don’t even deserve the opportunity to live? Sen. Clinton’s response was “Does the senators’ legislation make an exception for serious or life-threatening abnormalities or babies who are in such serious physical condition that they will not live outside the womb?” I said no and she said “That’s the point.” I said. “I understand the point, senator. I guess my point of rebuttal is that is you want to create a separation of the law between those children who are perfect and those who are not” and she concedes “no,” if a child is not perfect, then that child can be aborted under any circumstances, but if a child is perfect then we’re going to protect that child more, if you want to create that distinction go right ahead. And she said to respond, “If I could to the senator from Pennsylvania my great hope is that abortion becomes rarer and rarer.” Then, she goes on to say that the senator from Pennsylvania does not have a distinction under any circumstances, I think, demonstrates clearly the fallacy of this approach to having government making these tremendously painful and personal intimate decisions.”
I said, “Frankly, I don’t agree there should be a difference between who are normal in society and those who happened to have birth defects, severe or not and I do not believe that the law should draw a distinction.” Senator Clinton’s final comment is, “If the senator from Pennsylvania will allow me a final point, I want the record to be very clear I value every single life in every person.” To which I responded, “I will let the record speak for itself.”
