The Susan B. Anthony List is spending $150,000 on a radio ad in Michigan that praises Rick Santorum as someone who “led the fight in the senate against partial birth abortion” and “stood up time and again for the rights of women and unborn children.”
“Rick Santorum signed the Susan B. Anthony List prolife pledge,” the narrator says. “Mitt Romney was unwilling to sign the pledge. For people who care about the right to life, Rick Santorum is the only candidate for president.”
Romney explained why he was unwilling to sign the pledge in a June NRO post.
As much as I share the goals of the Susan B. Anthony List, its well-meaning pledge is overly broad and would have unintended consequences. That is why I could not sign it. It is one thing to end federal funding for an organization like Planned Parenthood; it is entirely another to end all federal funding for thousands of hospitals across America. That is precisely what the pledge would demand and require of a president who signed it.
The pledge also unduly burdens a president’s ability to appoint the most qualified individuals to a broad array of key positions in the federal government. I would expect every one of my appointees to carry out my policies on abortion and every other issue, irrespective of their personal views.
The full SBA List ad can be listened to here.