Michele Bachmann says her miscarriage led to her adoption 23 foster children. Bachmann reveals miscarriage

ROCK HILL, S.C. — Michele Bachmann says her opposition to abortion and much of her outlook on the world were shaped by a previously undisclosed miscarriage she suffered over two decades ago.

“After our second child was born, we became pregnant with a third baby,” Bachmann said at the town hall at Winthrop University on Wednesday night. “And it was an unexpected baby, but of course we were delighted to have this child. And the child was coming along, and we ended up losing that child. And it was devastating for both of us, as you can imagine if any of you have lost a child.”


Bachmann said the miscarriage led to her and her husband’s decision to take in 23 foster children on top of a family that grew to include five biological children. But, she said, it also prompted them to reconsider their professional lives and goals.

“At that moment we didn’t think of ourselves as overly career minded or overly materialistic,” she said, also speaking for her husband. “When we lost that child, it changed us. And it changed us forever.”

According to recent polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, Bachmann seems set to become the strongest female presidential candidate to run in the Republican field. But her revelation on Wednesday marks another first for presidential politics, and one that could both humanize her and put a sharp point on her attacks on frontrunner Mitt Romney, whose position on abortion rights is often characterized as insufficiently conservative by the primary base.

The miscarriage story came midway through an hour-long event that was the last South Carolina stop of her presidential campaign announcement tour. But it wasn’t the only surprise the 600 people who gathered got to hear.

Bachmann surprised many when she wouldn’t commit to signing the “Cut, Cap and Balance” pledge being pushed by South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint and other conservatives — as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said he would during a visit to Capitol Hill earlier Wednesday. The pledge requires support for a constitutional balanced budget amendment and substantial reductions in federal spending.

The issue, Bachmann explained, is that she’s worried the pledge needs to be even more stringent and expansive, as she said she expressed to DeMint in a conversation last Friday.

“Part of what I want to see happen going forward is the full de-funding of Obamacare,” she said. “I really like it…I probably want to go a little further.”

Bachmann bragged about voting against every debt ceiling increase since she came to Congress, under Republicans and Democrats. She downplayed the significance of the country reaching the debt limit, saying the president could just direct the Treasury secretary to pay the interest on the debt.

“We have enough money to pay off our interest on the debt so we don’t go into default,” she said.

Cuts to the defense budget, Bachmann said, are among those that should be made, citing inefficiency and waste at the Pentagon.

American commitments to NATO are another part of the problem, she said, claiming that the U.S. was paying more than its fair share and that some of that money is being inappropriately redirected by other countries.

“Not only are we providing our own defense, we’re providing the defense for other nations as well,” she said. “And these are nations that are continuing to pour money into their own welfare states. So it’s not fair to our taxpayers for us to be picking that up.”

That wasn’t the only international monetary entanglement that Bachmann turned into a populist rallying cry.

“I am tired of the United States jumping to China’s tune. I am done with that,” she said, explaining why the U.S. cannot keep taking loans. “And I’m tired of OPEC’s stranglehold on the United States.”

Escalating the populism, she even called out Wall Street for taking bailouts from Washington. As president, she said she would never authorize a bailout and pledged to send letters to pension funds telling them that they should not count on government help to stay solvent.

“You don’t privatize your profits and socialize your losses — and that’s why I voted no on the TARP bailout,” she said.

But Bachmann’s personal life, more than her policy positions, framed Wednesday’s discussion, which ended with a questioner asking her for the secrets of her 33-year marriage.

After talking about the importance of seeing marriage as a lifetime commitment, Bachmann asked to be joined on stage by her husband, who said, “From a husband’s perspective, it’s really easy to love this woman.”

“That was a great answer,” Bachmann told him. “You’re coming on the trips all the time. I just want you to know that.”

Then they kissed in front of the crowd.