Sen. Rick Santorum: At March for Life, Youth 'Mark a Great Injustice'

Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, was the primary sponsor of the partial-birth abortion ban that was recently signed into law.

Santorum, a Catholic, spoke with Register staff writer Tim Drake and other reporters in a telephone conference call after the March for Life on Jan. 22, the 31st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision.

How would you describe the current pro-life political environment?

There is no doubt that if you look at the polling information, the partial-birth abortion ban has refocused for people that this is not an issue of an abstract choice but the taking of a human life.

The mood at the March for Life is somber. There is no joy in coming here. This is to mark a great injustice. People come to D.C. with a lot on their hearts. They are somewhat active in pro-life causes back home. I don't mean picketing abortion clinics but helping at crisis-pregnancy centers and helping women who have carried their children to term. They come here for a selfless love for the pre-born baby and the mother and father. That story often goes unreported. I believe the more you talk about it, the more people understand. Technology and science are on our side.

Even a poll done by NARAL showed that most Americans believe abortion is wrong except in cases of rape and incest, which only make up for 1% of all abortions. In other words, most Americans don't believe in 99% of the abortions being done.

I have a colleague who used to say that President Bill Clinton wanted abortion to be safe, legal and rare. Well, if it's such a good thing, why should it be rare? The people who play these word games want to ignore that abortion is not a public good.

To what do you credit this change in public attitude?

I believe the partial-birth abortion ban and the debate around it helped people to recognize that this is not abstract. It is not some glob of tissue or pre-life or potential life. This is a baby with feet and hands and eyes and ears.

I find it remarkable that this constitutional right was established by seven [Supreme Court justices] without any public debate. What in most cases would take an act of Congress and 38 states to ratify was accomplished with the wave of a pen. That the public had no right to debate it demonstrates a remarkable amount of hubris. The court has created a right to abortion as a right above all other rights — it's a type of absolutism. There is no other right in the Constitution that is as absolute as this right. It shows how far astray we have gone.

Looking at the March for Life over the past few years, have you seen it become a movement among the youth?

Yes. I'm amazed. Normally at 8 a.m. Mass there are about 15 people. This morning there were 200, and 180 of them were young people, many from Dyersville, Iowa. Young people have known nothing except that this has been legal and a right, yet they know that even though the law of the land is such, they recognize that there is something wrong and unjust here.

I appreciate their convictions. They are being countercultural. The message they hear from radio, TV and movies is not life-affirming. For them to step up and do what's not popular among their culture, their teachers and their icons takes courage. These are the young folks who will be the builders of a future society.

For many of these older marchers, when they grew up, everyone believed that abortion was a bad choice. They grew up in that culture. Kids of this age have grown up in this culture, so it takes a lot of courage for them to be different.

What do you make of the recent statements by archbishops Raymond Burke of St. Louis and Alfred Hughes of New Orleans prohibiting Catholic politicians who support abortion from receiving Communion?

I think it is within the right of the bishops to determine the tenets of the faith. The bishops are not telling these politicians how to do their job. They are telling them what it means to be a Catholic and how you participate in the Church. I hope the Church can set boundaries as to what constitutes proper behavior in the Church, because I don't know where else you could go for that.

What do you see happening with regard to the blocked nominations to the federal courts?

It's going to get tougher. The number will rise from six to 12 and then 15. They will block a whole bunch of nominees. Why? It all stems from the right to privacy.

A recent Heritage Foundation study showed that the U.S. government spends $12 to promote safe sex and contraceptives for every $1 it spends to promote abstinence education. Do you see the issue of contraception tied to abortion?

I don't believe that condoms are a good thing. They just encourage premarital sexual activity. They are neither safe nor effective.

I had a conversation with the wife of the president of Uganda. Money from the West had been targeted for condoms. She told me that the program that has worked best in Uganda is abstinence. It's about self-control and self-respect and discipline. We're not animals. She said that these programs have also helped curb drug use. What are we telling people if we say we don't want them to do it but hand them a condom?

What can we expect next in terms of pro-life legislation?

The Unborn Victims of Violence Act [which was approved by the House Judiciary Committee on Jan. 21] will pass in the House sometime this spring. The bill, also known as the Laci and Connor Peterson Bill, will make violence against the unborn a punishable federal crime.

Tim Drake writes from St. Cloud, Minnesota.