Chutzpah alert: GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum accused liberals of being the true enemies of science:
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum charged on Monday that President Barack Obama and Democrats were “anti-science” because they refused to exploit the Earth’s natural resources to the limits of technology.
Over the weekend the candidate had been criticized for saying that President Barack Obama followed a theology that was not “based on the Bible.” He later insisted that he was talking about the president siding with “radical environmentalists.” [Raw Story]
As a U.S. senator, Santorum sponsored an amendment that would have forced schools to teach the pseudoscience of intelligent design at the expense of evolution. Yet Satorum’s suspicion of fossils does not extend to fossil fuels. In private life, he became a well-compensated advocate of fracking in Pennsylvania.
During the GOP primary, Santorum came out against insurance coverage for all pre-natal testing, because prenatal testing might lead to abortions. In other words he wants to force people who can’t afford expensive prenatal tests to give birth to children with catastrophic disabilities. What a wise and compassionate leader.
If Santorum brushed up on his sciene, he’d know that some prenatal testing saves pregnancies. In a powerful diary at Open Salon, Sarah Fister Gale describes how prenatal testing saved her daughter’s life. If her baby’s Rh negative disease hadn’t been diagnosed in utero, the little girl probably would have died at birth.
This story hit home for me because my mother has an atypical Rh condition. Without prenatal testing, my brother wouldn’t have made it, either. Luckily he was born in Canada under socialized medicine where coverage is based on science, not on the prejudices of ignorant busybodies like Rick Santorum.
I hope you found this article important. Before you leave, I want to ask you to consider supporting our work with a donation. In These Times needs readers like you to help sustain our mission. We don’t depend on—or want—corporate advertising or deep-pocketed billionaires to fund our journalism. We’re supported by you, the reader, so we can focus on covering the issues that matter most to the progressive movement without fear or compromise.
Our work isn’t hidden behind a paywall because of people like you who support our journalism. We want to keep it that way. If you value the work we do and the movements we cover, please consider donating to In These Times.
