Rick Santorum Says If Elected He Would Call On Congress To Abolish 9th U.S. Circuit Court Of Appeals, Defund Planned Parenthood, And Reinstate Military Policy Prohibiting Openly Gay Service Personal

Former United States Senator and GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum Friday proposed a conservative social and cultural policy agenda that includes removing liberal federal appeals court judges, defunding Planned Parenthood, kicking openly gay soldiers out of the military and seeking a constitutional ban on abortions. The Pennsylvania Republican said that after campaigning in each of the state’s 99 counties he understands Iowans want more from a candidate than policy stances on taxes and spending and reviving the economy. That includes putting God back in government, recognizing that faith “is at the heart of American exceptionalism,” he said. The Des Moines Register reports that in a warmly received speech to about 50 people at an Urbandale, Iowa office complex near his campaign headquarters, Santorum also said he believes the core of the American experience is the family, and without strong families, there cannot be a strong and vibrant nation. “You cannot have limited government if you have broken families because someone has to pick up the pieces, and the ones who pick up the pieces are the taxpayers,” Santorum said. Iowa Democratic Party officials declined to comment Friday. But the Planned Parenthood Action Fund released a statement saying that Santorum, “just like all the Republican presidential candidates, is way out of the mainstream when it comes to women’s health. He is proposing to cut off access to preventive care, birth control, and cancer screenings for millions of women.” Troy Price, executive director of One Iowa, the state’s largest gay rights group, said Santorum’s remarks were an unfortunate attack on gay and lesbian Americans and he considered the speech a sign of a “very desperate campaign.” Santorum’s plan includes calling on Congress to abolish the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, which covers the largest geographic area of any appeals court and is considered the most liberal. He called the 9th Circuit the “poster child for rogue courts” and proposed replacing it with two or three smaller circuits with new judges who would have to undergo Senate confirmation. Vetoing any bill or budget that funds abortion or that funds any organization that performs abortions, including Planned Parenthood. He would call on Congress to reinstitute “Don’t ask, Don’t tell,” the recently repealed law that prohibited gay military members from serving openly. Santorum would advocate for a Personhood Amendment to the Constitution with the goal of banning abortions. Santorum also said that he would use the president’s executive branch authority to defend in court the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as being between one man and one woman. He would also ban military chaplains from performing same-sex marriages on military bases. In addition, Santorum would advocate for a federal law permitting schools to allow prayers at graduations, high school football games and other functions. He would restore “conscience clause” protections for health care workers and ban federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Other changes would include repealing Clinton-era Title X family planning regulations, and directing federal health officials to restore the separation of the Title X family planning from abortion practices and restoring a ban on referrals for abortion. He would also reinstitute the “Mexico City Policy” to stop taxpayer-funding or promotion of abortions overseas. Santorum was applauded at the end of his speech, and many of those attending said they strongly agreed with his proposals. Santorum has struggled in the polls with 5 percent in an October Iowa Poll sponsored by the Des Moines Register and just 1-percent in national polls released this week. But Santorum’s campaign aides contend their candidate is poised for a strong move up in the polls after covering every county in the state and working hard to establish a state-wide organization with key leaders in every community.