Revealed: Wife of pro-life presidential candidate Rick Santorum had love affair with abortion doctor 40 years her senior... who delivered her as baby

Pro-life campaigner, 51, was a nursing student when she fell in love with father of six

• Presidential hopeful believes abortion practitioners should face 'criminal charges'

By Daniel Miller and Michael Zennie

The wife of fiercely pro-life presidential hopeful Rick Santorum had a six-year love affair with an abortion doctor, 40 years her senior - who, incredibly, delivered her as a baby - it has emerged.

Karen Santorum, 51, who, like her husband, opposes abortion even in cases of rape and doesn't believe in using birth control, lived with Pittsburgh abortion pioneer Dr Thomas E. Allen for most of her 20s in the 1980s.

When she met Dr Allen, Mrs Santorum, who then went by the name Karen Garver, was a 22-year-old nursing student who shared his liberal views on abortion and enjoyed life as the younger lover of the 63-year-old divorcee and man-about-town, according to friends.

The image of Mrs Santorum living with her progressive playboy boyfriend stands in sharp contrast to the matronly devout Catholic mother of seven that she plays on the campaign trail.

May-December romance: Karen Santorum (then Karen Garver) poses for this 1984 photo with her boyfriend of six years, Dr Thomas E. Allen, who was an obstetrician and abortion provider

 

New love: When Rick Santorum met his future wife, she was living with Dr Allen. She left her older lover for Santorum because she wanted to have children

Since she left Dr Allen for her current husband, Mrs Santorum's politics have taken a sharp turn to the right, which doesn't sit well with the doctor, now 92, or his wife Judi.

'There are so many contradictions in their lives that are quite alarming,' Judi Allen told the Mail Online.

 

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Dr Allen told the Philadelphia City paper in 2005: 'When she moved out to go be with Rick, she told me I'd like him, that he was pro-choice and a humanist.

'But I don't think there's a humanist bone in that man's body.'

Dr Allen co-founded Pittsburgh's first abortion clinic in the 1970s, and was a close friend of Mrs Santorum's parents.

Young love: Karen was a young law student and an intern at Rick's law firm when the couple met and fell in love

Attitude: Mrs Santorum, now fierecly opposed to abortion, was said to have not been bothered about what her former lover did for a living

Her father was a pediatrician and many of his patients were referred to him by Allen.

Karen and Rick Santorum married in 1990. They have seven children together,  all of whom are home-schooled.

RICK SANTORUM OFFERS STAUNCHLY ANTI-ABORTION VIEWS

Despite his wife's previous relationship and a miscarriage that some critics are calling a late-term abortion, Rick Santorum offers some of the strongest anti-abortion views in the Republican field. Here are some quotes from the candidate:

• 'I would advocate that any doctor that performs an abortion, should be criminally charged for doing so.'
• 'The issue of pro-life, the sanctity and dignity of every human life, not just on the issue of abortion, but with respect to the entire life, and the dignity of people at the end of life, those issues will be top priority issues for me to make sure that all life is respected and held with dignity.'
• 'They wanted a health exception, which of course is a phony exception which would make the ban ineffective,' on members of Congress who pressured Santorum to add an exception to a late-term abortion ban he proposed.
• 'The most dangerous place for an African-American in this country is in the womb.'
• 'You know, the US Supreme Court on a recent case said that a man who committed rape could not be killed, could not be subject to the death penalty, yet the child conceived as a result of that rape could be. That to me sounds like a country that doesn't have its morals correct.'

Interviewed recently by Newsweek, Dr  Allen said: 'Karen was a lovely girl, very intelligent and sweet.

'Karen had no problems with what I did for a living.'

Accounts of Allen paint the picture of a caddish playboy - a wine and opera aficionado whose first marriage is said to have failed due to his penchant for younger women.

Now forced to use a walking frame he retains his cheeky smile and remains a strong supporter of for reproductive rights.

He began dating his current wife Judi - 30 years his junior - a few months after splitting from Santorum. The couple have now been married for 16 years.

Allen claims his relationship with Mrs Santorum: 'wasn’t that big a deal, at least to me,' and admits to having had several young girlfriends before meeting her.

He said: 'My first marriage didn’t do very well because of that behavior.'

A close friend of her parents, Allen had effectively known Santorum her whole life after delivering her as a baby.

Their relationship began when she phoned him for advice while looking for an apartment to rent near Duquesne.

She moved into the basement apartment of the block where he lived on the top two floors but it wasn't long before they were cohabiting.

Recalling the day they began their relationship Mr Allen recalls: 'That first night, as soon as it got dark, she called to say she was scared and asked if she could come up.

'I figured it was a come-on, but that was OK.'

The pair lived together for nearly five years, during which time Allen paid to have her teeth straightened and bought her a grand piano.

The couple enjoyed several European holidays as well as a trip to Hong Kong together.

According to Allen’s youngest daughter, Candy who, at 51, is the same age as Santorum, the relationship did not go down well with Santorum's parents.

Rivals: The senator is in third place in the race to become the next Republican presidential nominee behind former Massachusetts Gov Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich

Allen says they split up on good terms in 1988 because Santorum wanted to have children which was something he had already done.

Although it was already known that Mrs Santorum had dated an abortion doctor, the fresh details of their relationship could damage Santorum's campaign to be picked as the next Republican Presidential nominee.

Rick Santorum is well-known for his hard-line pro-life views and Christian conservatives form a core part of his support base 

He has described abortions as a great moral wrong and believes doctors who provide them should face legal proceedings. 

According to a Gallup poll, Mr Santorum is currently standing in third place in the race to become the Republican nominee behind Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

He is yet to comment on his wife's relationship with Dr Allen.