Rick Santorum does not really need an introduction. The pro-life presidential republican candidate will now be amidst a new controversy. And this time it would be because of his wife, Karen Santorum.

51-year-old Karen Santorum is said to have had a six year long love affair with Dr. Thomas E. Allen, who is 40 years older than her. Karen and Rick Santorum have seven children and like her husband, she too opposes abortion even in cases of rape and does not believe in using birth control. But, hold on, her old flame was none other than a Pittsburgh abortion pioneer. Karen spent most of her 20s in the 1980’s prior her marriage to Rick with Dr. Allen. But this story takes a turn from hypocrisy to sheer creepy when you find out that it was Dr. Allen who had delivered Karen as a baby!

When Karen met Dr. Allen, Karen went by the name, Karen Garver and was only 22-years-old. She was a nursing student who shared Dr. Allen’s liberal views on abortion and had no problems with her boyfriend’s profession. Dr. Allen was 63-years-old back then and was a divorcee and a playboy as per friends.

Karen Santorum’s choice of men shows a vast contrast. She now lives like a matronly devout Catholic mother of seven. This can have serious affects on her husband, Rick Santorum’s campaign.

When Karen met her husband Rick, she was still living with Dr. Allen. She left her older lover for Santorum because she was ready to have children, but Allen had already had children from his previous marriage. Since her shift in men her political views have also taken a sharp turn towards the right. This apparently doesn’t sit too well with either Dr. Allen (who is now 92-years-old) or his current wife since 16 years Judi.

“There are so many contradictions in their lives that are quite alarming,” – Judi Allen.
“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.

Dr. Allen was the co-founder of Pittsburgh’s first abortion clinic in 1970s and was a close friend of Karen’s parents.  Karen’s father was a pediatrician and many of his patients were referred to him by Dr. Allen. In fact he delivered Karen as a baby.

“Karen was a lovely girl, very intelligent and sweet…Karen had no problems with what I did for a living.” – Dr. Allen.

Allen was well known for his playboy image and his first marriage was a failure due to his penchant for younger women. He claims that his relationship with Mrs. Santorum “wasn’t that big a deal, at least to me” and that he had dated several young women before meeting her. “My first marriage didn’t do very well because of that behavior.” He began dating his current wife Judi (30 years his junior) a few months after he split from Karen.

According to Dr. Allen, his relationship with Karen began when she called him for advice while looking for an apartment to rent near Duquesne. She then moved into the basement apartment of the block where he lived on the top two floors, but it wasn’t long before they were living together. Recalling the day they began their relationship, “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 couple lived together for about five years during which Allen paid for her teeth to be straightened and bought her a grand piano. They even enjoyed several European holidays and a trip to Hong Kong together.

According to Allen’s youngest daughter, Candy, who is the same age as Karen, the relationship didn’t work out because Karen’s parents were not okay about it. But Allen claims that they split on good terms in 1988. Just two years later in 1990, Karen and Rick Santorum got married.

With Rick Santorum’s hard-line pro life views and Christian conservative form as his support base, we really don’t know how the news of his wife’s prior relationship gels in. Rick Santorum describes abortion as a great moral wrong and believes doctors who provide them should face legal action. Currently he is standing in third place in the race to become the Republican nominee behind Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

Now that news of Karen Santorum’s past has surfaced, how would he address it? Is there a way out of this controversy that proves Karen Santorum to be a hypocrite in her views?

(PHOTOS): Bloomberg, Daily Mail, Salon, The Daily Beast,