Karen Santorum, wife of presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, said Monday that as president, her husband would "do nothing" on the issue of contraception.
"Women have nothing to fear. When it comes to contraceptives, he will do nothing on that issue," she said on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight" Monday. "I think the real issue was, what I said, about the religious freedom issue and not allowing the government to be intrusive in our lives."
When pressed on whether a Rick Santorum administration would respect a woman's right to use contraception, she quickly responded, "Absolutely.
"The issue is the government forcing people to go against their conscience," she said.
The presidential candidate, known for his conservative social values, took heat last month when the top donor behind a pro-Santorum super-PAC joked about the cost of contraception for women amid the debate over the Obama administration's rule requiring insurance companies to provide birth control for employees.
Santorum was a harsh critic of the president's proposal, which originally required religious organizations such as charities and hospitals to include contraception coverage in their healthcare plans. Obama has since shifted his plan so employees of those organizations could get birth control directly from insurers.
The issue has continued to follow Santorum on the campaign trail.
"It makes me really sad that the media tries to do that to him. They try to make it look like he is something that he's not. Rick is a great guy. He is completely supportive of women," Karen Santorum said.
The former Pennsylvania senator sparred with MSNBC host Joe Scarborough on Monday over whether he had been treated fairly by the news media on the issue of contraception access.
Santorum said it was unfair to take instances where he was talking about his personal religious beliefs and suggest they would result in dramatic changes to social policies.
"The only reason I've been talking about this issue is in respect to government mandates of people of faith," Santorum said on MSNBC.
