Veronique illon/The Hoya Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) applauded the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban at a conference.

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) called abortion one of the most important issues facing Americans as the keynote speaker at the fifth annual Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life on Wednesday.

Santorum, the third-ranking Republican in the Senate, was one of the strongest advocates of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban passed by Congress last November.

“Abortion is, bar-none, a fundamental concern because it affects modern culture with its dismissal of life,” Santorum said to a capacity crowd in ICC Auditorium.

Santorum expressed discomfort at what he felt was Americans’ increasing callousness toward the preciousness of life. “Nothing is more urgent than the question of life; all else is of secondary importance,” he said.

Santorum was quick to laud Georgetown’s anti-abortion rights students for their courage and tenacity and expressed regret that more students were not as bravely counter-cultural in their views.

“Though it comes as little surprise, it saddens me that you who stand in opposition of the horror of abortion represent the minority within a Catholic university,” Santorum, the Conference Chairman for Senate Republicans, said.

The senator alluded to the Declaration of Independence during his speech and pointed out the infallible order of Jefferson’s wording of one’s right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

“Life comes before freedom, and our founding fathers knew this. Why don’t we?” he said.

Wednesday’s conference took place the day before the 31st anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized first- or second-trimester abortions.

“Roe v. Wade is Dred Scott II,” he said. “There is something inherently wrong and unjust here.” Just as the Dred Scott Case of antebellum America effectively put the rights of the slave-owner over the rights of the slave, Santorum argued that Roe v. Wade placed fetal liberties subordinate to those of mothers.

Santorum also attacked the clemency with which the courts have treated young mothers who have killed their newborns.

“When comparing the penalties for women who kill toddlers to those `prom moms’ who dispose of their babies hours after birth, the difference is horrifying,” he said.

Santorum furthered his argument by asserting that the Supreme Court’s right to privacy ruling with regard to abortion interfered with Congress’ jurisdiction.

“As a society, we’ve become overwhelmingly hedonistic, and the right to privacy is both antithetical and destructive to our common good,” he said.

Santorum dubbed the anti-abortion rights movement as one of the few remaining selfless coalitions in the face of an increasingly selfish government. As an ardent proponent of the Partial-Birth Abortion bill, Santorum discussed the struggle he encountered from the Clinton administration and said that the recent success of the bill was due in part to abortion-rights advocates’ inability to conceal the horrific truth that partial-birth abortions kill babies.

“The thought that partial-birth abortions take the lives of healthy, developing babies really began to eat away at the conscience of America,” he said.

In closing, Santorum recited a famous axiom of Mother Theresa, “God doesn’t call you to be successful, but faithful,” adding that God will reward the faithful. “Let us, if nothing else,” he continued, “continue to fight for what is just and faithful.”

During a question-and-answer session that followed the speech, two students criticized Santorum for statements he had made about homosexuality. Unfazed, the senator stressed that it is important that we keep an open forum for discussion and that the debate continue within society. Santorum added that he believed he was misquoted in the interview that resulted in the controversial statements.

Opposition to Santorum and the conference was not limited to ICC Auditorium. Kristina Gupta (COL ’05), H*yas for Choice board member, said that Santorum had little right to oppose abortion since he stands in support of the death penalty.

“It’s just hypocritical,” she said. Gupta said H*yas for Choice also said Santorum’s support of the partial-birth abortion ban overlooked women’s health considerations. “[Partial-birth abortion] bill supporters flagrantly refuse to include an exception for the health of women.”

But John Coghlan (COL ’06), Grand Knight of the Georgetown University Knights of Columbus who also introduced Santorum, lauded the senator’s stance on abortion and his speech.

“Senator Santorum and his speech epitomized what the O’Connor Conference on Life stands for. His speech expressed how we as a nation have become de-sensitized to the issue of abortion but are moving in the right direction,” he said. “His work for the unborn should serve as an example to all Catholic politicians.”

The 2004 Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life was sponsored by Georgetown University Right to Life, the Georgetown University Knights of Columbus and Georgetown University Faculty for Life.