Martha MacCallum asked Rick Santorum about the women’s vote and whether he alienated women who are strongly pro-life but do believe in using contraception by saying that if he were president he would want to have a big discussion about contraception in this country. Santorum said what he wanted to talk about was more focused on the larger context of out-of-wedlock births, sexually transmitted diseases and young girls having children.

Santorum tied the point to the economy by saying, “This idea that having discussions about the importance of family in America, having discussions about unwed mothers and the problems of the breakup of the family is somehow not a women’s issue, it is very much a women’s issue … We can’t have a strong economy without strong families and strong family units.”

He told Martha that contraception is a legal product and it should remain a legal product. “I was talking about it in a broader context and I think most people in America get that. The media tries to play the ‘gotcha’ and say oh you know he has extreme views. No, what I was talking about was … 40 percent of children now being born out of wedlock in America. That is a serious issue in this country.”