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Rick Santorum: top 5 unorthodox views

Rick Santorum must try to prevent Mitt Romney from securing a majority of delegates before the Republican convention in August, and then have a contested convention. In many cases, his positions mirror Mr. Romney’s, but here are five of Mr. Santorum’s most unorthodox views.   

4. Birth control is morally wrong

Eric Gay/AP
Rick Santorum and his wife, Karen, make a campaign stop in Ocean Springs, Miss, earlier this month.

  • By Linda Feldmann Staff writer

As a strict Catholic, Santorum does not support artificial contraception. Last October, he told the website CaffeinatedThoughts.com that he would make “the dangers of contraception” an issue if elected president.

“One of the things I will talk about that no president has talked about before is the dangers of contraception in this country, the whole sexual libertine idea,” said Santorum.

“Many in the Christian faith have said, ‘Well, that’s OK. Contraception’s OK.’ It’s not OK because it’s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be,” Santorum continued.

His views might have stayed obscure if the Obama administration had not teed up the contraception issue by announcing that insurers must provide free birth control to employees at religiously affiliated institutions – a violation of religious liberty, critics said. Santorum jumped into the debate and backed the so-called Blunt amendment, an effort in the Senate to expand the conscience exemption in the Obama health-care reform. The amendment did not pass.

But questions have lingered over whether a President Santorum would seek to limit access to birth control. In a CNN interview on March 19, Santorum’s wife, Karen, said he would not.

"Women have nothing to fear. When it comes to contraceptives, he will do nothing on that issue," Mrs. Santorum told CNN talk-show host Piers Morgan. "I think the real issue was, what I said, about the religious freedom issue and not allowing the government to be intrusive in our lives."

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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