WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum addressed a small rally held by the pro-life group Students For Life at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference today. Mr. Santorum praised the young activists for their work and explained why he believes they must fight to end abortion in this country.

“We need to go out and challenge the left, which is constantly telling the public that conservatives are anti-science,” Mr. Santorum said. “Well, if there’s one group of folks that’s anti-science it is, in fact, those who call themselves pro-choice, because the choice that they’re choosing is to kill an innocent human life, without question an innocent human being.”

Mr. Santorum has no doubt human life begins at conception.

“We’re a voice of reason who understands that when people say, ‘Well, I don’t believe that life begins at conception,’ and then someone else says, ‘Well, I do believe life begins at conception,’ obviously everybody’s entitled to their beliefs, but they’re not entitled to their facts,” Mr. Santorum said. “See, I don’t believe life begins at conception, I know life begins at conception.”

Mr. Santorum said he believes pro-choice advocates are far too “cavalier” about abortion.

“We have 1.2 million of them every year in America,” Mr. Santorum said. “When I hear the left and the pro-choice folks saying abortion should be rare. Oh, really, 1.2 million, almost 25 percent of all children conceived in America. That’s not rare by any stretch of the imagination.”

According to Mr. Santorum, pro-choice activists oppose anything that might decrease the number of abortions in the country.

“They don’t want to do anything to try to make it, in fact, rare,” Mr. Santorum said. “In fact, they fight every attempt to give women informed consent, to give women the opportunities to make the choices that, in any healthcare procedure, they would demand other than this one.”

To combat the effect of the pro-choice movement, Mr. Santorum said pro-lifers “need to go out and use reason, use facts, use love and compassion.” He also advocated volunteering with crisis pregnancy centers that advise pregnant women against having abortions.

“I like to go out and speak to pro-life groups, particularly crisis pregnancy centers. I do a lot of crisis pregnancy centers, Carenet Pregnancy Center, all these different groups that are out there, because they are the front line of the pro-life movement. They are the front line of caring, compassionate love.”

He encouraged the Students For Life to be “active” and work with crisis pregnancy centers around the country.

“Not only do these organizations save lives, but they present what is the best about what pro-lifers are about here in this country,” Mr. Santorum said.

After his appeal to the audience to work with the crisis pregnancy centers, Mr. Santorum thanked them for their work.

“As young people, I know that being a conservative, much less a pro-lifer, in high school and college is not an easy thing to do. But I suspect it’s not as hard as it maybe once was.”

Mr. Santorum concluded by saying he believes more young people are joining the pro-life movement because they are a “visual generation” and are more affected by the images they see on sonograms and ultrasounds than older Americans.

“If you look at the polling numbers, young people are increasingly understanding the reality. You’re a visual generation. I know, I’ve got seven kids. You’re a visual generation, you know, it’s everything is interactive on a screen of some sort,” Mr. Santorum said. “The reality is that children your age look at the reality of that child in the womb and see what they see. No one of your generation is not seeing that little child kicking around in the womb and not recognizing exactly what that is. And you can deny it, you can rationalize it, but the truth is staring at you on that screen.”

Mr. Santorum wrapped up his speech by encouraging the Students For Life to continue to fight for “all God’s truth.”

“That is the greatest gift that we have. We have the truth and we have evidence of that truth,” Mr. Santorum said. “You keep standing for the truth, not just when it comes to life, but for all God’s truth and the truth that made this country great.”

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