Speaking The Truth, Part 1

This is family policy matters program is produced by the North Carolina family policy Council of profamily research and education organization dedicated to strengthening and preserving the family and elf in the studio. Here's John Rushton, president of the North Carolina family policy Council, thank you for doing this for family policy matter. This week we are pleased to bring you the first part of a powerful presentation Buffalo Pennsylvania Sen. in 2012 presidential candidate Rick Santorum at the North Carolina family policy Council's major speakers dinner event in Raleigh in March 2015 Sen. Santorum is cofounder of patriot voices, a grassroots and online community of Americans from across the country who are committed to promoting faith, family, freedom and opportunity is also CEO of echo like studios of fast-growing faith and family film production company is also co-author with his wife Karen of a brand-new book about his special needs daughter Isabella entitled bellows gift how one little girl transformed our family and inspired a nation in part one of this two-part series. Sen. Santorum assures how his youngest daughter Bella who was born with a genetic disorder called trisomy 18 inspired him as a father and as a public figure. Now Sen. Rick Santorum must let me share a few things with is the first talking about about my daughter because that that experience that that we detailing and bellows gift to Starbuck to me was set for something that is it was a beautiful lesson learned for me if I was very involved in the pro-life movement for for many years since the mid-1990s I was involved in the partial-birth abortion bill hold a whole host of other pieces of legislation and an eye watch the pro-life mood for a long time, and the likelihood is change. It is one of the reasons that America's ideal ideas on on life are changing ill in spite of all the darkness that you see out there.

One, there's one movement that's that's going against the raw raw sewage that's coming in the culture and that is the pro-life movement that believe it or not, millennial's are more pro-life than their parents, and that's a remarkable thing to think about, but I really do believe that that gives us some hope on a couple of fronts.

Number one because how the pro-life movement is gone about transforming hearts and minds and it's done so by will, something that we all know works in this.

I suspect worked in many of our own lives and that is Christ's love the pro-life movement has changed its tenor and its tone from one that is more moralizing and and condemnatory in his early years to one that reaches out through pregnancy care centers and and pro-life organizations and understands that the world is broken. The people who are in crisis don't need our condemnation. They need our love. They need the love of Christ to open their arms to them and say we love you we are here for you. We understand that this is a broken world and you been abandoned in many cases like you'll feel you have a choice and were out there on the front lines out. I was just at a crisis pregnancy center and and and I'll just happen to be in Iowa and I and and right across street from the Planned Parenthood clinic and it's just it's it's beautiful to see the borrowers and that in the windows in the end, and the defense around this rather sterile looking building the Planned Parenthood and this beautiful welcoming center that just exudes Christ's love exudes that we are here for you that, ladies and gentlemen is I know how many each and every one of you one way or another in your life was brought to a more meaningful relationship with him is it's it's true love and I share that with you because it's Wheatley's experienced a similar thing and in our in our journey in 2012 with our daughter Bella. You may recall that during the presidential election was after the island, Hampshire and South Carolina primaries.

Florida was up next and I had to suspend my campaign because my daughter Bella who was born with trisomy 18 which is a condition according the literature incompatible with life less than 1% of children who are diagnosed with that make it to their first birthday and she was at the time a little over three years old and she was when I was to happen to be home for one day and so I took a day off at home. And of course God would have it that night. Our daughter got really deathly ill when I'm going to the hospital and in the hospital they yeah they x-rayed her lungs and her lungs were completely full of.

They diagnosed her with pneumonia. Last time the Bella hegemony was about to almost 2 years ago. Before that, and she was in the hospital for five weeks on a ventilator and remained on oxygen for weeks after that. So Karen and I were there at all day was that it was a Friday. We were there all day Friday disbelieving that your campaign was over, the Bella was to be sick, and maybe even Diane and we were. We just had to be there with her. We made the decision to announce that we were not just leaving leaving that suspending the campaign, but why in the one of my friends convinced me that we needed to say why even that we wanted to protect her privacy. He said what don't you want to pray for her and we said well that's the best reason to tell people what was going on so we did a long story short Bella all always. When she gets sick like that. She gets worse for a while before she gets better. These are little children who have narrow airway. She has chronic lung disease.

This is a child with who is can't stand or can't can't sit up and hold herself up so is very low muscle tone and so we had very little, little hope that she would recover at least in any anytime soon. But that night she didn't get worse in the next morning when they brought the x-ray into x-rayed her lungs. Her lungs were perfectly clear back out on the trail and everything was different. Our first stop was in.

It was in King St. Louis, Missouri and we were supposed to do a manufacturing speech at a community college right outside of St. Louis, and I showed up and there always people stand outside the building.

I thought I we didn't even call the college.

That's how disorganized we were at that point in Nellie's people lately couldn't get in tonight so I got out of the car and I said you know let's can we find someone to let people in. As we talking so always people out here this.

If that's the overflow and I walked into that room and I'll never forget the energy and enthusiasm. I looked around and I saw this little girl there, sitting on her father's shoulders sign. She had trisomy 21 extra 21st chromosome, which is cut down syndrome. She was holding up the sign and the sign said I'm for Bella's dad everything change people from all over the political spectrum, not just during the campaign, but afterwards it was remarkable how how the impact this little girl and her struggle people who would have encouraged mothers to abort a child with trisomy 18 were somehow inspired by Bella's victory. It lifted them up and made them see the reality of the dignity of all human life or share a little story with you because shortly thereafter and I went to Calhoun. We went to those three states and when many went to Missouri wind up winning Missouri and two other states in 19 Miss America when we were then given us up for dead, yet we we want, and all of a sudden, of course, when you win because you you go to the top of the poles. Of course they just dump everything on top, you at that point you'll see this in the coming year as people rise to the top. They just get beat down to the bottom. That's the way it works in politics as they were throwing out everything I'm even a speech I given in Florida talking about how Satan is attacking this country and that was most amazing day in the campaign.

I had written Asher for international reporters coming up to me all the same question when I seen this report about me giving the speech in the further question was same on one after another. You actually believe in Satan. They were absolutely flummoxed. But then that I believe the literal existence of Satan is to give you an insight into the national media well send it so happened that a couple of days later I did a Sunday show with Bob chief and after that show a reporter you'll know the name Joe Klein. He writes for Time magazine and so Joe Klein writes this article which I think encapsulates the beauty of going out and telling the truth.

That's why I know you're here because you have an organization that is willing to go out and tell the truth and and I think it's important to understand it as much heat as you will get as much heat as I've gotten over the people when they hear the truth may not accept it many cases they may get really angry with you, they still in their heart know the truth.

Deep down they know the truth, share with you this little article that was written was called Rick Santorum's inconvenient truths he talks about the beginning of it be going on. Bob Schieffer show how Schieffer was just amazed that that I had said these outrageous things about Obama care and prenatal testing that we should pray pay Obama care should pay for amniocentesis because it ends with more abortions, but try to eliminate disabled children things I'd said about education and Joe Klein says Santorum is become the inconvenient candidate for even those with the great who agree with them. These are delicate issues to be handled delicately. The right to life movement has been particularly clever indiscipline changing public opinion about abortion over the last 20 years is going after the most egregious grizzly outliers like so-called partial-birth abortion got a major boost from science, ironically, as sonograms of made it impossible to deny that from a very early stage, that thing in the womb is human life. Then he concludes with something admirable about Santorum's near to Reddick insistence on bringing up issues no one else wants to talk about his emphasis on the importance of intact families is undoubtedly correct every major study since the 60s is shown the disaster in and out of wedlock births. Even Santorum's use of prenatal testing raises uncomfortable issues for many people. It was a sonogram that helped determine that Santorum son Gabriel needed microsurgery in the womb to clear his bladder. Rick and Karen decided to fight for Gabriel's life which nearly cost Karen her own, and they passionately embrace the child during his two hours of life on earth. They spent the past three years caring for their daughter Isabella's genetic defect.

Trisomy 18 is an early death sentence yet. I'm haunted by the smiling photos I've seen of Isabella with her father, mother, brothers and sisters. No doubt she struggles through many reviewed many of her days.

She nearly died a few days ago, but she's also been granted three years of unconditional love and the ability to smile and bring joy. Her tenuous survival has given her family and deeper sense of how precious even the frail list of lives are all right. I can hear you saying the Santorum families course may be admirable but should we have the right to make our own choices. Yes, I suppose, but I also worry that we become too adverse to personal inconvenience as a society that were less rigorous parents than we should be that we farmed out our responsibilities, especially for the disabled to the state and so I'm grateful to Santorum for forcing upon me the discomfort of having to think about the moral implications of his daughters smile, be not afraid, be not afraid to tell the truth be not afraid to be a light in a dark world you been listening to part one of the street given by Sen. Rick Santorum at the North Carolina family policy Council's major speakers dinner event in Raleigh in March 2015. I encourage you to tune into family policy matters next week for part two of this exciting presentation. Thank you for listening and if you would like to learn more about the North Carolina family policy Council and are major speakers dinner events, please visit our website@mcfamily.org again that's into family.org's family policy matters is information and analysis featured North Carolina family policy Council join us weekly discussion on policy issues affecting the family you have questions or comments, please contact 91 907-0800 visit our website and see family.org