Following Rick Santorum’s decision today to suspend his campaign for the Republican nomination to face pro-abortion President Barack Obama in November, pro-life groups are hailing the former Pennsylvania senator for raising pro-life issues in the campaign.
Although the other Republican candidates are pro-life, they say Santorum did the most to raise the pro-life standard and talk about abortion and life issues on the campaign trail. In particular, Santorum raised the gruesome specter of abortions on children with disabilities – who are targeted 90 percent of the time in abortions when their disability is detected before birth.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA List, which endorsed Santorum and actively campaigned for him across the nation, told LifeNews, “With great vision and passion, Rick Santorum reached the hearts of pro-life voters and allowed them to show the strength of their voting bloc. The Susan B. Anthony List is proud to have mobilized those key voters.”
“Pro-life voters are a consistent and growing constituency, who proved invaluable to Senator Santorum in state after state throughout the primary elections. We will continue to reach out and mobilize those voters and millions more like them across the country. The political muscle of the pro-life movement will be critical to defeating President Obama in November,” the Susan B. Anthony List president said.
Throughout the primary election, exit polling revealed Santorum’s strong pro-life position gave him a 4 to 10 percentage point advantage among all primary voters, Dannenfelser said. Historically, the high number of pro-life voters, combined with voter intensity, makes the Life issue critical in elections because of the effect pro-life voters can have on majority making.
The SBA List spent more than $500,000 on an independent expenditure campaign — including a bus tour mobilization effort which rallied pro-life voters across seven states in support of Santorum’s presidential candidacy. The SBA List’s “Rick Bus,” led by former Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave, traversed Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Illinois rallying pro-life women and social conservative voters to support Santorum in those key primaries.
The entire SBA List campaign also included a $350,000 radio ad campaign in Ohio and Michigan.
Meanwhile, Family Research Council Action President Tony Perkins made similar remarks.
“Rick Santorum’s historic run for president achieved remarkable success because his campaign was based not on money spent but on the message of faith, family and freedom that he carried. I commend his courage, boldness and tenacity in fighting for the values that made America great, and are fundamental to returning America to greatness,” he said.
“Millions of voters flocked to Rick not because he was a Republican, but because he passionately articulated the connection between America ‘s financial greatness and its moral and cultural wholeness. He realizes that real problem-solving starts with an understanding that the economy and the family are indivisible,” Perkins added. “This values message generated enthusiasm and drew many new voters into the process. If the Republican establishment hopes to generate this same voter intensity in the fall elections, Santorum voters must see it demonstrate a genuine and solid commitment to the core values issues.”
