Santorum: 'All life is precious'

NEW YORK, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Legalized abortion in the United States won't exist if voters elect someone who believes "life is precious," Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum said.

"Monday marks the first day of the fourth decade of Roe vs. Wade, but together we can make it the decade when Roe is overturned," Santorum said in a commentary published Monday in The Wall Street Journal. "With a president committed to defending life and appointing originalist judges, we will turn the tide for life and human dignity."

"I believe that all life is precious. I know life begins at conception," Santorum, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, wrote. "I know that every person, every child conceived in the womb, has a right to life. … The right to life is the first right. Without its protection, no other rights matter."

Santorum said he learned about the "value of all life" from his children.

"My opponents whisper that they are pro-life, but I fight the battle in the trenches and will continue to do so until every innocent human life in this country is protected," Santorum said. "I've dedicated my life as a husband, father and leader to this cause."

Santorum said he was disappointed that President Obama in his fight for civil rights "refuses to recognize the civil rights of the unborn in his country."

He also expressed disappointment that Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich "simply check the box. The unborn need leaders who will stand for life; so does the soul of America."