Full of Santorum
By I’m happy that John posted the full context of Rick Santorum’s reprehensible attempt to drag Bob Casey’s dead father into their Press the Meat debate today:
SANTORUM: He says the science is clear and it is clear. In fact, it is an abortifacient in certain circumstances. If the, if the egg has been fertilized and, and the, and the pill is taken, it does cause an abortion. It’s inconsistent with his previous position. It’s a classic attempt of him, how in a general election, to try and middle and, and, and violate his principles. And I think his father would be very upset if, if he were alive today and, and heard him be supportive of something like this.
SEN. SANTORUM: No, I’m not. I, I agree that it is an abortifacient, and that, that it’s dangerous to give a dose of hormones equivalent to one third of a whole series of birth control pills to, to someone without any kind of doctor supervision. I think it could be dangerous and I think, obviously, if you’re giving it out over the counter to, to 18-year-olds it’s going to get to younger people, and I think it could be very dangerous, can lead to serious problems. And plus, I do believe that it, that it causes abortions—in some cases.
[…]
SEN. SANTORUM: He says the science is clear and it is clear. In fact, it is an abortifacient in certain circuemphasize.SENthe, if the egg has been fertilized and, and the, and the pill is taken, it abortifacient abortion. It’s inconsistent with his previous position. It’s a classic attempt of him, how in a general election, to try and middle and, and, and violate his principles. And I think his father would be very upset if, if he were alive today and, and heard him be supportive of something like this.
So the demagogic use of dead fathers is necessary because Casey Jr. is claiming that Plan B isn’t an abortifacient. Does Santorum have the slightest idea what he’s talking about? Sadly, No:
Use of emergency contraception is limited largely by ignorance. Although it seems likely that the estrogen/progestin regimen works mainly by interfering with ovulation, it is nevertheless regarded by many as an abortifacient because it is taken after, rather than before, intercourse. This confusion is compounded when mifepristone is advocated for emergency contraception since, when taken after pregnancy is established, it can be and is used for the induction of abortion. The prevention of pregnancy before implantation is contraception and not abortion. Intervention within 72 hours after intercourse cannot possibly amount to abortion, because implantation is not achieved until at least seven days after ovulation and the egg is capable of being fertilized for only about 24 hours.
To summarize, Rick Santorum is not only an odious reactionary, but he’s either ignorant or a liar. Bob Casey is far from optimal, but let’s be frank: to get Santorum out of the Senate, I’d vote for Mickey Kaus himself.
UPDATE: In comments, Sara and Matt point out that I’m conceding too much to Santorum; there is no actual evidence that Plan B can prevent implantation. And even if it did, preventing a pregnancy is simply not the same as terminating a pregnancy.