By Martha Quillen
“So who do you think should make a woman’s reproductive decisions? Her husband and priest? Her state government? The U.S. Congress? Or Rick Santorum?” my husband quipped after we watched the Florida debate. At that point, the contest appeared to be between Gingrich and Romney, but Rick Santorum was on the news because he’d been declared the winner in Iowa a week earlier.
It didn’t seem as if Santorum’s candidacy could amount to much, though, since Santorum is against contraception for married and unmarried couples, which is a rather disconcerting position. And one would expect it to be an unpopular one, too. In fact, the U.S. birth rate hit an all time low in 2010 and has continued to decline, which suggests that citizens of child-bearing age (be they Democrats or Republicans) use contraception.