Santorum: Abortion Responsible For Social Security Shortfall

Rick Santorum on a radio interview today claimed that legalized abortion is the reason that the Social Security system will begin paying out more in benefits than it brings in. Santorum won’t be the first Religious Right leader to blame economic problems on a woman’s right to choose, as Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) and Jim Garlow both tied legal abortion to unemployment. Speaking to the New Hampshire radio station WEZS, Santorum discussed how the “abortion culture” is harming the Social Security system, which he called “a flawed design.”

Agreeing with a questioner, Santorum said that “the reason Social Security is in trouble is because we don’t have enough workers to support the retirees, well, a third of all the young people in America are not in America today because of abortion, because one in three pregnancies end in abortion, so we are depopulating this country.” Pointing to the birthrate in Europe, Santorum went on to say that “these demographic trends are causing Social Security and Medicare to be underfunded.”

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