Santorum exhorts need to stand up for abortion bans

CEDAR RAPIDS — Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum told Iowans on Tuesday that if they want to see federal action on abortion, he's their only choice come caucus night.

Santorum, a staunch anti-abortion advocate since the 1990s when he served in the U.S. House of Representatives, criticized the other Republican presidential candidates for not making abortion bans a campaign issue.

The former Pennsylvania senator spoke at a sparsely attended abortion forum at the Cedar Rapids Public Library hosted by Iowa Right to Life, the largest anti-abortion organization in the state. Republican candidates Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, and Carly Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard CEO, have spoken at similar forums hosted by the group in the past.

'I would make the argument that 9 out of the 11 (Republican) candidates are not particularly strong on moral issues because they're not willing to stand up and take leadership at the federal level to do something about abortion,' Santorum said. 'That's why I'm here. We go across the state and talk about having someone caucus goers in Iowa can look to as a dependable voice and source for moving the needle on this issue.'

Santorum is last in the field of Republican candidates polling at 1 percent, according to a Real Clear Politics average of polls of likely caucusgoers.

During his tenure in Congress, Santorum introduced legislation banning partial-birth abortions, or abortions that take place in the second trimester, passed in 2003 and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2007.

The Republican Party has been infiltrated by libertarian ideologies, he said, changing the direction of thinking from enacting a federal abortion ban to leaving it state governments.

'Bottom line for me is I think we need to be a party and I think we need to have candidates who stand up for the dignity of all human life and as president be willing to do something about it,' Santorum said. He also spoke out against Planned Parenthood, a women's health care organization, that some conservatives criticize for offering abortions. Under his presidency, he said, it would not receive federal funding.

'There's plenty of women's health clinics out there, that in most cases provide a lot more women's health services than what Planned Parenthood does,' Santorum said.