Be afraid, be VERY afraid: a beginner's guide to Rick Santorum
Mitt Romney may have – just – emerged as the victor in Tuesday's Republican caucus in Iowa but, for many, the night belonged to his rival Rick Santorum, the most socially conservative of all the Republican candidates.
Gay marriage
During the Iowa campaign Santorum explained that not only would he support a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, but he would also be in favour of annulling all currently legal same-sex unions.
Birth control
Santorum raised eyebrows on Monday when he reiterated his opposition to a supreme court ruling that prevented the state of Connecticut from banning contraception. In an interview with Jake Tapper on ABC News, he said he believed all states should have the right to ban birth control. "I don't think it works. I think it's harmful to women," he said. "I think it's harmful to our society to have a society that says that sex outside of marriage is something that should be encouraged or tolerated, particularly among the young."
Evolution
According to Santorum, there are "legitimate problems and holes in the theory of evolution", a position which has led to his firm support for the intelligent design (ID) movement, even though that appears to have softened since writing in the Washington Times in 2002 that ID "is a legitimate scientific theory that should be taught in science classes".
