Former U.S. senator and 2012 GOP presidential nominee also-ran Rick Santorum appeared in Austin, Texas on Thursday in support of Senate Bill 1, the controversial set of abortion restrictions famously filibustered by State Senator Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth) last month.
“What they’re doing here today is simply human decency. Human decency for the little child in the womb,” said Santorum after visiting the Senate floor to encourage lawmakers to vote for the bill.
Santorum currently leads a group called Patriot Voices and is the CEO of a “faith-based” film studio. He opposes abortions in all cases and once suggested that rape victims who become pregnant should “make the best out of a bad situation.”
Texas’ Senate is set to vote on SB 1 Friday afternoon and Santorum’s visit demonstrates how important the bill has become to the anti-abortion rights movement.
In addition to banning abortions after the 20th week, even in cases of rape and incest, SB1 adds regulations on clinics and physicians who provide abortion services. Similar restrictions have been recently signed into law in Wisconsin and Ohio and are being considered in North Carolina.
MaddowBlog put together this map, which illustrates how the law would close most of Texas’ 42 clinics that offer abortion services, disproportionately affecting poor and rural women.
When presenting the GOP “autopsy” of the 2012 election, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said, “It all goes back to what our moms used to tell us: It’s not just what we say; it’s how we say it.”
It appears the Texas GOP wants to say it with Santorum.
