Karen Santorum Attacked For Abortion Doctor Relationship

Karen Santorum Attacked In South Carolina For Relationship With Abortion Doctor

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- An unknown group put flyers on cars outside an anti-abortion event here Wednesday, attacking Karen Santorum, wife of the former senator, for her alleged relationship with an abortion doctor in the 1980s.

"Did you know Rick Santorum’s wife, Karen, had a six-year affair with an abortionist named Tom Allen?" anti-abortion activist Elizabeth Reichert writes in the letter. "This abortion doctor was 30 years her senior! In fact, he delivered her as a baby! The only reason they broke up was that Karen wanted kids -- while Tom was busy killing them."

Rick Santorum's wife of two decades is drawing fire for her past, with multiple sources reporting that she lived with OB-GYN doctor Tom Allen, confirmed by the man himself.

The relationship was reported by Philadelphia City Paper in 2005, but has resurfaced in recent months as more eyes turn to Santorum, of Pennsylvania.

She lived with and dated the doctor in the 1980s, when she was in her 20s. Allen was in his 60s at the time and performed abortions in the clinic he co-founded in the early 1970s, the first in Pittsburgh, according to Philadelphia City Paper. Karen moved in with him, at first living in the basement and then moving upstairs to where he stayed, according to reports. (The Daily Beast has a picture of the couple here.)

Allen had less-than-positive things to say about Rick Santorum in 2005, when he discussed his relationship with Karen with the City Paper.

"When she moved out to go be with Rick, she told me I'd like him, that he was pro-choice and a humanist," Allen told Philadelphia City Paper. "But I don't think there's a humanist bone in that man's body."

The flyers decry Santorum as soft on abortion rights, despite his opposition to embryonic stem cell research and to all abortion, including for victims of rape and incest. He spoke about his strong commitment to life at an event on Wednesday held by the anti-abortion group Personhood USA.

Santorum has been targeted at events by anti-abortion groups before. Flyers were posted on cars during a campaign event in Ames, Iowa, on Dec. 30 saying he "has a long and storied history of campaigning for radical pro-abortion candidates for political office," mentioning former Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey.

Before You Go

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot