Former Senator and Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum recently spoke at an event for the Women’s Help Center in Jacksonville, Florida and reiterated his pro-life beliefs.
He said, “America will never be whole, America will never be good if America continues to kill its children.” According to Sunshine State News, he also said that the work of the Women’s Help Center was “remarkable” and “important.” The pregnancy center was founded by Catholics in 1990 and helps women make life affirming choices when facing unplanned pregnancies.
Santorum explained the importance of their ministry and said, “We have seen it in our lives, the transformative love of Jesus Christ. This is a ministry, showing the love of Jesus, showing the love of each and every one of you, showing the love for those who are most damaged by our culture.” He added that America is “a country that is struggling with the truth, struggling with what is right and wrong.”
In 2012, Santorum lost his bid for the Republican nomination for president but said he was still open to running in 2016. “I’m open to it…I think there’s a fight right now as to what the soul of the Republican party’s going to be and the conservative movement, and we have something to say about that. I think from our battle, we’re not going to leave the field,” said Santorum.
Now he plans to make final decision about whether or not he will seek the 2016 nomination by late spring or early summer. In 2012, multiple pro-life groups supported Santorum and the Susan B. Anthony List (SBA) even gave him their endorsement.
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President of SBA, Marjorie Dannenfelser, said, “Among the field of strong pro-life candidates in the GOP primary, one stands out as a proven leader in this great human and civil rights cause of our time. Rick Santorum communicates the vision and has exhibited the strategic and tactical prowess the pro-life movement must have in order to succeed. Women and children deserve his leadership, grounded as it is in affirming the dignity of every person.”
As LifeNews previously reported, Santorum made the decision to suspend his 2012 campaign when his youngest daughter, Bella, was released from the hospital after facing an illness. Bella suffers from a chromosomal condition called Trisomy 18, also known as Edwards syndrome. According to the Trisomy 18 Foundation, the condition is extremely rare and occurs in only 1 out of every 2500 pregnancies in the United States and about 1 in 6000 live births. Tragically, the one-year survival rate for Trisomy 18 is 1%.
Although Bella’s suffering has been painful for Santorum, it has also strengthened his pro-life beliefs. Earlier this year in an interview with the Washington Post, Rick admitted that until Bella was five months old he was convinced that she was going to die and thought the best thing he could do was to treat her differently and not love her as he had his six older children. He believed that it wouldn’t hurt as much to lose her if he had his guard up. However, since then he’s realized that was wrong. He said, “I remember holding that finger, looking at her and realizing what I had done. I had seen her as less of a person.”
Miraculously, now Bella is seven-years-old and the Santorum’s are releasing a new book called, Bella’s Gift, about their family’s journey with their daughter’s condition. The book discusses the morality of abortion as it relates to children with disabilities, especially for children diagnosed with Trisomy 18.
