![rabbleprochoice:
thedailywhat:
Santorum Santorum Says of the Day: On today’s Face the Nation, host Bob Schieffer asked presidential candidate Rick Santorum to clarify his controversial statement from yesterday, that “free prenatal testing ends up in more abortions.”
But rather than double back, Santorum instead chose to double down, saying that certain types of prenatal testing that are used to detect fetal abnormalities should not be offered for free as they “encourage abortions.”
“We’re talking about specifically prenatal testing and specifically amniocentesis,” Santorum said, “which is a… procedure that creates a risk of miscarriage when you have it and is done for the purposes of identifying maladies of a child in the womb, which in many cases, in fact, most cases, physicians recommend, particularly if there’s a problem, recommend abortion.”
A study conducted in 2006 by researchers at Mouth Sinai found that the risk of miscarriage from amniocentesis — a procedure necessary for the detection of chromosomal abnormalities (such as Down syndrome) and fetal infections — is 0.06%. In fact, there was no difference in “loss rate” between patients who had undergone amniocentesis, and those who had not
Santorum, whose daughter was diagnosed with a genetic disorder called Edwards syndrome, took issue with President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which guarantees free-of-charge access to prenatal testing.
[cbsnews / politico / mediaite.]
I find this horrifying. Santorum’s argument is that amniocentesis shouldn’t be free because most doctors will recommend abortion if a severe birth defect is detected. So, we shouldn’t allow people to have this test done because doctors might use their medical knowledge and expert advice to advise something he doesn’t agree with.
Does anyone else see the problem here?
Rick Santorum is not a doctor and he is attempting to insert himself into the patient-doctor relationship simply because a patient MIGHT choose an abortion after finding out their fetus won’t live past the age of 2.
And it DEFINITELY makes sense to not offer this option free of charge to people who are expecting since not offering it free of charge affects poor people much more directly. Because poor people are in a position to care for a fetus that might require hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical care once it’s born.
This guy needs to sit down, shut up, and stop trying to make everyone agree with his religious dogma.
People in congress are voting against contraception which is not representative of what their constituents want. Hell, even one of the reddest states voted to keep contraceptives. It isn’t any more clearer that the old, rich, white men in the GOP that are voting against contraceptives are doing so for their own interests and not those of the people who voted for them.
This is bullshit.
Love,
Rabble
Wow, Rick Santorum really does hate poor people (shocker, right?). Many disabilities require extra time and money, something that people who can’t pay for prenatal testing probably don’t have. People with scarce or no resources to care for a child with disabilities need access to prenatal testing. They need to know so they can decide what to do next, and how to adequately prepare for their child, should they choose to continue the pregnancy.
If Rick Santorum truly cared about The Babies, he would encourage parents to be as informed as possible, so they could make the best decisions for themselves and their children. Seriously, we really are just mindless baby machines to these guys.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lznmajB2ec1qzpwi0o1_1280.jpg)
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Santorum Santorum Says of the Day: On today’s Face the Nation, host Bob Schieffer asked presidential candidate Rick Santorum to clarify his controversial statement from yesterday, that “free prenatal testing ends up in more abortions.”
But rather than double back, Santorum instead chose to double down, saying that certain types of prenatal testing that are used to detect fetal abnormalities should not be offered for free as they “encourage abortions.”
“We’re talking about specifically prenatal testing and specifically amniocentesis,” Santorum said, “which is a… procedure that creates a risk of miscarriage when you have it and is done for the purposes of identifying maladies of a child in the womb, which in many cases, in fact, most cases, physicians recommend, particularly if there’s a problem, recommend abortion.”
A study conducted in 2006 by researchers at Mouth Sinai found that the risk of miscarriage from amniocentesis — a procedure necessary for the detection of chromosomal abnormalities (such as Down syndrome) and fetal infections — is 0.06%. In fact, there was no difference in “loss rate” between patients who had undergone amniocentesis, and those who had not
Santorum, whose daughter was diagnosed with a genetic disorder called Edwards syndrome, took issue with President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which guarantees free-of-charge access to prenatal testing.
I find this horrifying. Santorum’s argument is that amniocentesis shouldn’t be free because most doctors will recommend abortion if a severe birth defect is detected. So, we shouldn’t allow people to have this test done because doctors might use their medical knowledge and expert advice to advise something he doesn’t agree with.
Does anyone else see the problem here?
Rick Santorum is not a doctor and he is attempting to insert himself into the patient-doctor relationship simply because a patient MIGHT choose an abortion after finding out their fetus won’t live past the age of 2.
And it DEFINITELY makes sense to not offer this option free of charge to people who are expecting since not offering it free of charge affects poor people much more directly. Because poor people are in a position to care for a fetus that might require hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical care once it’s born.
This guy needs to sit down, shut up, and stop trying to make everyone agree with his religious dogma.
People in congress are voting against contraception which is not representative of what their constituents want. Hell, even one of the reddest states voted to keep contraceptives. It isn’t any more clearer that the old, rich, white men in the GOP that are voting against contraceptives are doing so for their own interests and not those of the people who voted for them.
This is bullshit.
Love,
Rabble
Wow, Rick Santorum really does hate poor people (shocker, right?). Many disabilities require extra time and money, something that people who can’t pay for prenatal testing probably don’t have. People with scarce or no resources to care for a child with disabilities need access to prenatal testing. They need to know so they can decide what to do next, and how to adequately prepare for their child, should they choose to continue the pregnancy.
If Rick Santorum truly cared about The Babies, he would encourage parents to be as informed as possible, so they could make the best decisions for themselves and their children. Seriously, we really are just mindless baby machines to these guys.
(via thepersonalispolitic)
