Karen Santorum Attacked For Abortion Doctor Relationship

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- An unknown group put flyers on cars outside an anti-abortion event here Wednesday, attacking Karen Santorum, wife of the former senator, for her alleged relationship with an abortion doctor in the 1980s.

"Did you know Rick Santorum’s wife, Karen, had a six-year affair with an abortionist named Tom Allen?" anti-abortion activist Elizabeth Reichert writes in the letter. "This abortion doctor was 30 years her senior! In fact, he delivered her as a baby! The only reason they broke up was that Karen wanted kids -- while Tom was busy killing them."

Rick Santorum's wife of two decades is drawing fire for her past, with multiple sources reporting that she lived with OB-GYN doctor Tom Allen, confirmed by the man himself.

The relationship was reported by Philadelphia City Paper in 2005, but has resurfaced in recent months as more eyes turn to Santorum, of Pennsylvania.

She lived with and dated the doctor in the 1980s, when she was in her 20s. Allen was in his 60s at the time and performed abortions in the clinic he co-founded in the early 1970s, the first in Pittsburgh, according to Philadelphia City Paper. Karen moved in with him, at first living in the basement and then moving upstairs to where he stayed, according to reports. (The Daily Beast has a picture of the couple here.)

Allen had less-than-positive things to say about Rick Santorum in 2005, when he discussed his relationship with Karen with the City Paper.

"When she moved out to go be with Rick, she told me I'd like him, that he was pro-choice and a humanist," Allen told Philadelphia City Paper. "But I don't think there's a humanist bone in that man's body."

The flyers decry Santorum as soft on abortion rights, despite his opposition to embryonic stem cell research and to all abortion, including for victims of rape and incest. He spoke about his strong commitment to life at an event on Wednesday held by the anti-abortion group Personhood USA.

Santorum has been targeted at events by anti-abortion groups before. Flyers were posted on cars during a campaign event in Ames, Iowa, on Dec. 30 saying he "has a long and storied history of campaigning for radical pro-abortion candidates for political office," mentioning former Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey.

Read the full text of the Jan. 18 letter.

Comments

[EFMGrad]

10:51 PM on 04/10/2012

I don't have a problem with people being anti-abortion. I do have a problem with people who forget they did not always believe that way, yet won't allow others to come to their own decision in their own time.

[sarahandsanta]

12:53 AM on 03/14/2012

imagine if michelle obama dated an abortion doctor!!!

[Kathryn Elaine Kerbs]

02:32 AM on 03/20/2012

It would not change my opinion of her (which is good, BTW).....it does not change my opinion on Karen either.

[Marilyn Gott]

10:36 AM on 02/22/2012

How could Reverend Rick marry a used woman?

[Justin Seine]

07:47 PM on 03/28/2012

He's a politician, he doesn't know any better.

[shellyamber]

04:48 PM on 02/20/2012

The Senator from Oklahoma, Tom Coburn, performed abortions supposedly to save the life of the mother. But my sources in oklahoma confirm that he performed many abortions when first in practice.
Wonder what Santorum thinks of Coburn...
And Coburn ADMITTED he performed abortions.

[Jean Netherton]

11:00 PM on 02/24/2012

You say Coburn ADMITTED he performed abortions like he wasn't supposed to?
There is nothing wrong with performing abortions as part of your medical practice. As we heard in the Virginia legislature, there are many reasons, including a non-viable fetus, or an incomplete miscarriage, a tubal pregnancy, cancer... All reasons are heart wrenching and having a competent doctor would be one less thing to worry about.

[Kathryn Elaine Kerbs]

02:33 AM on 03/20/2012

Well said.

[William Vandehey]

02:34 PM on 02/19/2012

Another NON-Story. Very boring. How is this relevant? yawn.

[William Vandehey]

02:16 PM on 02/19/2012

Is this relevant? OLD NEWS...YAWN.

[chris784100]

11:39 PM on 02/15/2012

This woman is ugly on the inside and out. Shes clearly got a five head not a four head. Shes got scrunch face.

[Golgafrinchan Ark B]

02:57 PM on 02/19/2012

Your post belies your statement "I like to think I have a healthy outlook on things". Keep thinking.

Hypocrisy is something Ms Santorum can do something about, but her genetics are not. Don't ridicule people for things that are beyond their control. Your critique of her appearance is highly subjective, by the way, and bitterly snarky.

[Kathryn Elaine Kerbs]

02:34 AM on 03/20/2012

I totally agree with you Golga. When people do that, it's ugly for sure.

[Diana Moreno]

10:01 AM on 02/13/2012

Wow, the skeletons in the GOP closet continue to multiply. Are we surprised?

[emmieker]

03:42 PM on 02/21/2012

It is fascinating how all the skeletons in one's closet are conveniently "dug" up just when a Republican candidate begins to make headway. Equally fascinating is how every single bit of garbage about our current president (and surely there is some...) has been somehow, somewhere hidden in a dark, dank place. What do we know about our current president and his x-girlfriends? What do we know about his writing (except for the content in his books which were, ostensibly, ghostwritten). America has been blinded, but certainly not by the light!

[JudgeCCrater]

12:48 PM on 01/20/2012

You think THAT'S bad? Both Gingrich and Romney actually know how to SPELL 'abortion!' Oh, the horror! Clearly, they cannot possibly be allowed to be the R nominee.

[l78lancer]

10:39 PM on 01/19/2012

I'm surprised that so many people on the right talk about God, Christianity, family values, and morality. Yet how can they claim legitimacy, assuming an air of superiority about pregnancy, abortion, marriage, divorce, adultry, LBGT and so forth when the characters of these same individuals are questionable? Don't do as I do (or did), do as I say is hypocritical and authoritarian.

While it's their greatest desire, they cannot legislate values even while trying to control behavior. They cannot control or coerce people into abiding by their will, particularly when they have not demonstrated the same willingness, discipline and judgement in their own lives. They haven't been stellar examples themselves.

Santorum's wife shouldn't be part of the presidential referendum. Neither should Callista Gingrich nor the other wives. However, if the cantidates insist on parading their families in the limelight and talking about their lives and values then they should expect to have their backgrounds questioned. When they're questioned they need to understand that people won't agree with nor condone some of what they have done and won't find them acceptable as leaders. Individuals who do not share the views of the cantidates and their wives should not be vilified, because as president they would have the power to affect lives in extraordinary and permanent ways. Wives influence their husbands. And no one wants to be lead by someone whom they consider unworthy or incapable.

When you attempt to control peoples' lives you will find yourelf being judged by those people.

[Whogivesafox]

02:05 PM on 01/24/2012

If you believe that, you probably believe Gingrich is a statesman, a family man and a man of the people.

[TurnToTheLeft]

06:04 PM on 01/19/2012

Saint Augustine the architect of the early Catholic Church believed "Life does not begin until the baby takes its first breath and breathes in the Holy Spirit at that point the body is given a soul." i.e. Life begins at birth. abortion is not a sin. It is a deep and hard personal choice for a woman to make. There are Catholic theologians going back to the beginning of the church who do not believe abortion and birth control are sins. It is the right wing post Vatican II Counter Reformation that is ripping the church apart with social issues rather than following the guidance of the Great Pope John XXIII - love thy neighbor as thyself. feed the poor. give shelter to those without homes. heal the sick. The Church has pushed these the greatest teachings aside to cast the first stone against women and gays. Re-elect President Obama and fight for social justice rather than legitimize the victimization of the poor.

[William Vandehey]

02:30 PM on 02/19/2012

Really? Get your facts right. That has never been nor will ever be the position of the Catholic Church. Your credibility crumbles when you drool like that. You knock the church, yet in the same paragraph, you "quote" the church to base YOUR values, or lack their of.
"Whatsoever you do, to the least of my people, that you do unto me." Who are the least here? The ones who cannot speak for themselves. That was you AND me not too long ago.
Please change your cruel ways. It's never too late. We are ALL created equal. Stop the divisions and name calling. Rich, middle class, poor, D or R, white, black....just stop it. Equal in the eyes of God. You should read what the church actually teaches at catholic.org.

[TurnToTheLeft]

05:54 PM on 01/19/2012

Keep abortion LEGAL and SAFE! Vote to re-elect President Obama and restore a sane Democrat Congress.The next election could wipe out a woman's right to choose. LOOK at the bigger picture. 2 liberal Supreme court judges are old and sick; they are hanging in there until President Obama gets re-elected and Progressives hopefully take control of the house. Women and minorities, middle-class, working-class and the poor are under assault by the ultra-conservative right and the wealthiest people in our society who fuel these social issues in order to pack the government with GOTP. Progressives must pull together and get out the vote for President Obama.

[CH M]

03:14 PM on 01/19/2012

There was a story about Rick and Karen bringing home their dead fetus for the children to play with and hold in their arms. The ghoulishness of that notwithstanding, that fetus had to be aborted in order to save Karen's life, did it not? I'm sorry for their loss, and I'm sorry that Karen was in such a terrible medical predicament. But the fact remains that Karen and Rick had an abortion, right?

[brooksm68]

02:30 PM on 01/20/2012

They did not have an abortion.
From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Santorum):
"In 1996, the Santorums' son Gabriel was born prematurely and died two hours later."

[nurse72]

11:01 PM on 01/22/2012

Were you in the delivery room with her? Did you violate HIPPA patient privacy laws to obtain that information? Is Wikipedia the gospel of truth? Only Santorum and his wife know the truth and if she did have induced labor to save her life, then that brooksm68, is in the medical community known as a "therapeutic abortion".

[CH M]

03:13 AM on 01/26/2012

Anything you say, brooksm68, to assuage the sorrow and guilt of the Santorums. As if he will EVER make it to the White House.

[IrisMozenter]

10:21 AM on 01/19/2012

He knew that all this was in his wife's past, yet he willing exposed her for the sake of the evangelical vote. That's pretty selfish in my book. All these candidates are hypocrites.

[maggiest]

05:48 PM on 02/16/2012

What frightens me is that in a 2006 interview, he said that while he has very strong religious beliefs, they are his personal beliefs and he has no intention of legislating them. Throttle up a few years and the man is singing a very different tune.