[Politicalmom]

That DID NOT say he wanted to remove the pro-life plank.

And actions speak louder than words.

A video of Fred Thompson answering a question about abortion policy during a televised debate during his 1992 Senate campaign has surfaced on YouTube and is being portrayed as proof that Thompson once was “pro-choice” on abortion, but those who think that’s what it shows are simplistic in their analysis.

Key phrase in Thompson’s answer is this one: “I do not believe that the federal government ought to be involved in that process.” That sentence is the summary of all he says next, and shows he is opposed to Roe v. Wade, which represented the federalization of what had been a state-level issue.

He then says he is opposed to federal funding for abortion and supports the states’ right to regulate abortion - both are federalist and pro-life positions - and he opposes the federal government criminalizing abortion. Again, a federalist answer.

Thompson’s entire answer is very “federalist” - he believes abortion policy should be a matter for states rather than the federal government.

His answer also fits within the mainstream pro-life platform. Most pro-lifers do not favor making criminals of women who have abortions, and the pro-life push to overturn Roe v. Wade would merely return the issue of abortion to a state-level issue.

And, finally, Thompson’s voting record in 8 years in the Senate is solidly pro-life.

- Bill Hobbs, Elephant Biz, April 24, 2007

http://www.elephantbiz.com/2007/04/is_fred_thompson_prolife.html

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Fred wonders how it all got started:

In the days since Thompson allowed that he was thinking about running for president, his views on abortion have come under scrutiny. Thompson finds the news reports from his first run for Senate perplexing.

“I have read these accounts and tried to think back 13 years ago as to what may have given rise to them. Although I don’t remember it, I must have said something to someone as I was getting my campaign started that led to a story. Apparently, another story was based upon that story, and then another was based upon that, concluding I was pro-choice.”

But, he adds: “I was interviewed and rated pro-life by the National Right to Life folks in 1994, and I had a 100 percent voting record on abortion issues while in the Senate.”

Darla St. Martin, associate executive director of National Right to Life, supports Thompson on those claims. She traveled to Tennessee in 1994 to meet with him. “I interviewed him and on all of the questions I asked him, he opposed abortion,” she told the American Spectator’s Philip Klein.

Thompson says he thinks Roe v. Wade is bad law and should be overturned, but he says he does not support a Human Life Amendment.

- Stephen F. Hayes, The Weekly Standard, From the April 23, 2007 issue

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/528aylls.asp

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LifeNews.com on Fred:

“Thompson accumulated a strong pro-life voting record in Congress, and said over the weekend that he supports overturning Roe v. Wade.”

- Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com, March 12, 2007

http://www.lifenews.com/nat2978.html

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A reality check on Fred and life:

“He [Fred Thompson] IS pro-life!”

- Doug Hagen, TheRealityCheck.org, march, 2007

http://www.therealitycheck.org/GuestColumnist/dhagin032007.htm

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Fred Thompson on the Issues:

Voted YES on maintaining ban on Military Base Abortions. (Jun 2000)
Voted YES on banning partial birth abortions. (Oct 1999)
Voted YES on banning human cloning. (Feb 1998)

http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Fred_Thompson.htm#Abortion

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Fred Thompson SenateMatch/VoteMatch questionnaire response:

STRONGLY OPPOSES topic 1: “Abortion is a woman’s right”

http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Fred_Thompson_SenateMatch.htm

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Don’t believe the lies:

Both sides of the aisle are trying to figure out a way to derail the [Fred Thompson] campaign...[so don’t let them fool you into thinking Fred Thompson is anything other than 100% pro-life!]

- JB Williams, MichNews.com, Apr 11, 2007

http://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_16415.shtml

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Do not be deceived:

Today, the Evangelicals for Mitt operation has spent its time attacking conservative Republican presidential candidates, most recently former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and unannounced candidate, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson.

Thompson, who has made it clear that he does not support Roe v. Wade, and who was certified as pro-life by the National Right to Life Committee back in 1994, has continued to state that he is pro-life. But the Evangelicals for Mitt, using research provided by the Romney campaign, has been putting out information on its blog that Thompson, as well as other Republican Senate candidates, were not.

The Romney campaign has targeted Thompson as a serious threat to its ongoing political survival. Recent polls that have just begun including Thompson in surveys show him running ahead of Romney in Iowa, without his having spent a dime.

National Right to Life says Thompson has been reliably pro-life and his voting record sustains that view.

- Bill Hobbs, Elephant Biz, March 26, 2007

http://www.elephantbiz.com/2007/03/independent_blog_has_ties_to_r.html

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National Right to Life Committee on Fred Thompson:

“This morning, I cited reports being promoted by the pro-Romney blog Evangelicals for Mitt suggesting that Fred Thompson ran his two campaigns for Senate in Tennessee as a pro-choicer. Not so, National Right to Life executive co-director Darla St. Martin just told me.

St. Martin said that she went down to Tennessee in 1994 to speak with Thompson personally when he first ran for Senate, and that she determined he was against abortion.

‘I interviewed him and on all of the questions I asked him, he opposed abortion,’ St. Martin said. She told me that the group went on to support him in that election, and his record reinforced for her that their determination was correct.

‘He has a consistent voting record that is pro-life,’ she said.

On the NRLC website, they archive their congressional ratings back to 1997, so they include six of his eight years in the Senate. Thompson took the pro-life position on every vote he cast on the abortion issue...”

http://www.spectator.org/blogger.asp?BlogID=6017

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Pro-abortion NARAL gives Fred an “F”:

“NARAL also rated nine other Republicans... Based on their abortion rights stance, the following Republicans received a grade of ‘F’: ...Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee...”

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Try=No&Page=\Politics\archive\200007\POL20000714a.html

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NRLC says Fred is [still] pro-life:

“With 54% of the vote, pro-life former Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander (R) won the seat of retiring PRO-LIFE Senator Fred Thompson.”

http://www.nrlc.org/news/2002/NRL11/senate.html

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Pro-abortion Planned Parenthood can’t find a thing to like about Fred:

“Listed below is the name, state and party of each of these senators along with Planned Parenthood’s rating of them.

Name State Party PP rating...
Fred Thompson TN R 0% “

http://www.all.org/stopp/rr0111.htm

[Gelato]

That DID NOT say he wanted to remove the pro-life plank.

He hardly endorsed it.

U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson says he seldom hears about abortion in campaign travels throughout Tennessee and hopes the issue is downplayed at the Republican National Convention. The Tennessee Republican, a pro-choice defender in a party with an anti-abortion tilt, is preparing for next week's convention in San Diego. He said the party must avoid distracting issues and focus on electing Bob Dole as president. "We need to concentrate on what brings us together and not what divides us," Thompson said in an interview with The Tennessean published Tuesday. Thompson said he opposes making early-term abortions a crime, as some Republicans would like to do with a constitutional amendment. "But I don't think you should bolt on one issue. I'm still not convinced platforms are a good idea. We know what we believe in and I don't think we need to write it all down in a document," Thompson said. (AP, 8/6/96)

Do I believe Thompson would fight to remove the pro-life plank from the 2008 platform? No, he's not stupid.

But I do believe his past indifference toward abortion is significant, and is a throwback to the pre-Reagan and McCain-wing of the party that he does represent.

What should our response to that be? Should we let him treat the pro-life agenda as a mere litmus test he has already met, and move on to the things he would rather talk about? Or should we demand more, actually push to outlaw abortion, and thereby urge Fred to move to the right?

Fred's not going to lead us there. We have to lead him.