Can we please stop talking about Karen Santorum’s private medical history?

Here’s the thing. I get why people want to talk about whether or not Rick Santorum’s wife had an abortion in her second trimester of pregnancy. Santorum is anti-choice like a motherfucker - he’s not just anti-abortion, he’s anti-birth control. So I really do understand the desire to call him out as a hypocrite.

But being pro-choice means respecting all women’s privacy surrounding their pregnancies. It’s none of our business what happened during Karen Santorum’s pregnancy - she had a medical emergency and a tragic loss and we should leave it at that.

Yes, Rick Santorum discussed what happened in an interview almost ten years ago; so there’s an argument to be made that he opened the door for criticism. But as far as I can tell, Karen has not been directly quoted or interviewed - this is her husband talking about her pregnancy (something I’m uncomfortable with in general). Unless I see direct proof that Karen Santorum is okay with the details of her pregnancy being public, I don’t see how she has given up her right to medical privacy. (Even then, though, I would be against discussing it.)

Santorum’s quote, “if it was a choice of whether both Karen and the child are going to die or just the child is going to die..it’s a pretty easy call,” is fair game. He doesn’t support policies that would honor a choice he would want for himself, so it’s important for feminists and pro-choice advocates to call him out. 

But anything beyond that - discussing his wife’s medical care in detail and digging into the nitty gritty about whether or not what happened was an abortion - is just too much. The minute we start to talk about the medical details of one woman’s pregnancy - no matter who she is - we are opening the door for people to talk about any woman’s pregnancy and private medical history. 

There are plenty of ways to criticize Santorum and the ways in which his policies would be deadly for women - so let’s not violate our own ethics to do it. 

UPDATE: A couple of folks on Twitter have pointed out that Karen Santorum wrote this book about the loss of her pregnancy. I don’t know what she says in it, and I still don’t think it matters much in terms of her privacy. She’s describing a very personal experience in her own words, as is her right - not ours.