Which would be totally fine if babies were delivered via stork, but in the real world, pre-natal screening is a pretty important component of the pregnant woman’s health and the future baby’s health. Santorum doesn’t like it, though, because abortion (that, by the way, should be Santorum’s campaign slogan — “Rick Santorum: Because Abortion.”
The government should never require health care providers to fully cover the cost of prenatal testing such as amniocentesis, which can determine the possibility of Down syndrome or other problems in the fetus, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum said Sunday.
In particular, amniocentesis “more often than not” results in abortion, said Santorum, a strident anti-abortion politician, on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”
“People have a right to do it, but to have the government force people to provide it free just is a bit loaded,” Santorum said in arguing against what he called a mandate in the health care reform bill passed by President Barack Obama and Democrats in 2010.
Santorum was responding to questions about comments he made the day before at a Christian Alliance luncheon in Columbus, Ohio, in which he said the mandate in the health care law was intended to increase abortions and reduce overall health care costs.
“One of the mandates is they require free prenatal testing in every insurance policy in America,” Santorum said. “Why? Because it saves money in health care. Why? Because free pre-natal testing ends up in more abortions and therefore less care that has to be done, because we cull the ranks of the disabled in our society.”
In the Ohio remarks, Santorum added the mandate was “another hidden message as to what President Obama thinks of those who are less able.”
Actually, it sends a pretty clear message that Rick Santorum knows next to nothing about pregnancy and women’s health, and sees the whole world through abortion-colored glasses (also, Santorum isn’t exactly a disability-rights champion himself).
Yes, prenatal screening does test for Down syndrome and trisomy 18. But amniocentesis does not “more often than not” result in abortion — not even close. It also tests for a variety of other conditions, and can help to identify potential complications so that women can have healthier pregnancies. If there’s a medical condition that necessitates treatment or surgery during or after pregnancy, it gives doctors and families the information they need. Yes, it can also ID conditions that lead some women to choose to terminate. But for the women who choose to continue pregnancies with fetal complications, it offers time to prepare for a child with special needs, or a stillbirth. It can make pregnancy and delivery safer.
In other words, it’s a necessary part of health care for women and babies. And the fact that Santorum wants to cut pre-natal testing demonstrates a real hostility not to abortion, but to women’s health and women’s bodies.