[Apologetics] Thompson star dims on abortion issue

[Art Kelly]

Dianne,

During his Senate years, the Memphis Commercial Appeal
described him as “basically pro-choice on abortion;”
The Tennessean described him as “a pro-choice defender
in a party with an anti-abortion tilt;” and National
Review deemed him to be “pro-choice.”

Thompson opposed (in a Christian Coalition
questionnaire) a constitutional amendment “protecting
the sanctity of human life” as well as federal
legislation “protecting the sanctity of human life.”  

“I’m not willing to support laws that prohibit early
term abortions,” he told the Conservative Spectator, a
Tennessee newspaper, in 1994.  

“It comes down to whether life begins at conception. 
I don’t know in my own mind if that is the case so I
don’t feel the law ought to impose that standard on
other people.”  

“The ultimate decision on abortion should be left with
the woman and not the government,” he told another
newspaper.  

And in his Christian Coalition questionnaire, he
penciled in: “I do not believe abortion should be
criminalized.  This matter will be won in the hearts
and souls of the American people.”

Note that he ends up saying, “When you get back to the
states, I think the states should have some leeway.”  

“Leeway” obviously is code for “the states should
allow some abortions.”

New information uncovered by the Los Angeles Times
indicates that Thompson has lobbied on behalf of an
abortion rights organization.

The official minutes of the National Family Planning
and Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA) document
that the group hired Thompson in 1991 to try to
influence the George H. W. Bush Administration to
loosen the restrictions that prevented federal funding
from going to clinics that engage in abortion
counseling.

Thompson’s support for federal funding of abortion is
vividly recalled by the President of the NFPRHA, Judy
DeSarno; the Director of Government Relations, Sarah
Szanton; and a member of the Board of Directors, Susan
Cohen.

Bush’s Chief of Staff, John Sununu, has denied ever
talking to Thompson about abortion.  That may mean
that Thompson either spoke to other officials in the
White House or took the NFPRHA’s money and did nothing
for them.

Art

--- Dianne Dawson <rcdianne at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Art,
>    
>   Can you site recent evidence that Thompson
> supports abortion?
>    
>   Dianne
> 
> Art Kelly <arthurkelly at yahoo.com> wrote:
>   Dianne,
> 
> Of course, people can be converted. But there is no
> evidence that I've seen to indicate that Thompson
> has
> had a change of heart on abortion.
> 
> Art
> 
> --- Dianne Dawson wrote:
> 
> > Thank Art. I'm sure that the pro-abortion folks
> > will chew on this for awhile. However, as is
> > mentioned at the end of this article, we have to
> > focus on where he is now. Remember "Roe" was
> > pro-abortion at one time also. Look where she is
> > now on the issue.
> > 
> > Dianne
> > 
> > Art Kelly wrote:
> > 
> >
>
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-thompson8jul08,1,6126333.story?ctrack=2&cset=true
> > 
> > >From the Los Angeles Times
> > 
> > Thompson star dims on abortion issue
> > 
> > Conservatives are anxious after a family-planning
> > group claims that he once lobbied on its behalf
> > against the so-called gag rule.
> > 
> > By Janet Hook
> > Times Staff Writer
> > 
> > July 8, 2007
> > 
> > WASHINGTON — Republican political activists said
> > Saturday that reports that Fred D. Thompson had
> > lobbied to ease a controversial abortion
> restriction
> > have cast a shadow on his effort to persuade
> social
> > conservatives — a key constituency in his emerging
> > bid
> > for the White House — that he is an unwavering
> > opponent of abortion.
> > 
> > Some Republican activists urged caution in
> > evaluating
> > Thompson's record. Others considered it damaging
> for
> > questions to arise about his position on abortion,
> a
> > litmus-test issue for many social conservatives. 
> > 
> > "That would not be helpful," said Paul M. Weyrich,
> a
> > conservative leader who has not endorsed a
> > presidential candidate.
> > 
> > Evidence that Thompson worked for a
> family-planning
> > group in 1991 as part of his little-known but
> > extensive portfolio as a part-time lobbyist
> > underscores how much the public has yet to learn
> > about
> > the former senator, who is best known for acting
> in
> > movies and on TV, especially his role as a
> district
> > attorney on the popular show "Law & Order." 
> > 
> > The article in Saturday's Los Angeles Times cited
> > records and the accounts of several people
> > associated
> > with the issue. It also said Thompson's spokesman
> > strongly denied Thompson had performed such
> lobbying
> > work.
> > 
> > Some conservatives said the lobbying claims added
> to
> > anxieties. Though the GOP has been unwavering in
> its
> > opposition to abortion at least since President
> > Reagan, the positions of its presidential
> > front-runners appear to be less unequivocal.
> > 
> > Former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani supports
> > abortion rights. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt
> > Romney
> > is a recent convert to opposing abortion rights.
> > Sen.
> > John McCain (R-Ariz.) opposes abortion but has
> never
> > made that a central issue in his career.
> > 
> > "With all the people who keep changing their minds
> > on
> > abortion, that's got to be unsettling," Weyrich
> > said.
> > 
> > The result is a GOP abortion debate lacking one
> > thing
> > that activists on both sides of the issue long
> for:
> > certitude. 
> > 
> > "People want to see clarity and consistency on
> this
> > issue," said Ted Miller, spokesman for NARAL
> > Pro-Choice America, which supports abortion
> rights. 
> > 
> > A big question for Thompson, who is expected to
> > declare his candidacy in the next week or two, is
> > whether this will disillusion Republicans who have
> > seen him as a white knight to rescue the party
> from
> > candidates unpalatable to many conservatives.
> > 
> > "This will hurt, particularly because
> conservatives
> > have been dying for a champion to be in the arena
> > for
> > them," said David Carney, a New Hampshire-based
> GOP
> > strategist who is not aligned with any candidate.
> "A
> > lot hoped he was the guy
. People who really
> believe
> > in the pro-life cause will not be happy." 
> > 
> > As a Tennessee senator from December 1994 to
> January
> > 2003, Thompson sided with antiabortion advocates
> on
> > most key issues. That record has been a big reason
> > conservatives have looked to him as an alternative
> > to
> > established GOP candidates. 
> > 
> > But some critics have pointed to statements he
> made
> > before becoming senator to suggest that he was
> > sympathetic to abortion rights. Thompson has said
> > that
> > those statements were misconstrued and that he has
> > become even more passionate in his abortion
> > opposition
> > since seeing the sonogram of his now-3-year-old
> > daughter.
> > 
> > In 1991, according to several people then
> affiliated
> > with the National Family Planning and Reproductive
> > Health Assn., he accepted an assignment from the
> > association to lobby the White House to withdraw
> or
> > relax a "gag rule" that barred abortion counseling
> > at
> > clinics that received federal money.
> > 
> > The minutes of a 1991 meeting — given to The Times
> —
> > say the association's president reported to the
> > board
> > that the association had hired him. And a
> Democratic
> > colleague of Thompson's at the lobbying and law
> firm
> > also recalled Thompson having worked for the
> > association. 
> > 
> > Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo has adamantly
> denied
> > that Thompson worked for the group. And the White
> > House official whom the group was seeking to
> reach,
> > then-Chief of Staff John H. Sununu, said Thompson
> > didn't lobby him.
> > 
> > Some Republicans argued that the account was
> > politically motivated, noting it came from
> > abortion-rights advocates with little affection
> for
> > the GOP.
> > 
> > Thompson's GOP rivals in the presidential contest
> > seized on the account but declined to comment for
> > the
> > record.
> > 
> > "Each day that gets closer to Fred Thompson's
> > announcement as a candidate, we learn new
> > information
> > about his record and his career that shows he
> > doesn't
> > have the conservative credentials that primary
> > voters
> > are looking for," said a strategist for a rival.
> > 
> > However, a leading backer of Romney is more
> > forgiving.
> > Romney is himself asking voters to pay more
> > attention
> > to his current abortion opposition than to his
> past
> > record.
> > 
> > Thompson "had a change of heart on the abortion
> > issue," said James Bopp Jr., an antiabortion
> leader.
> > "This story is about something that happened in
> > 1991.
> > He's walked through the burning embers, and there
> is
> > no reason to think his change of heart was not
> > sincere." 
> > 
> > Anne Hendershott, author of "The Politics of
> > Abortion," said the report would probably not hurt
> > Thompson if antiabortion activists were pragmatic
> > and
> > focused on where he stood now, not on the position
> > of
> > a group he might have worked for 16 years ago:
> "Fred
> > Thompson says he is pro-life now, and that is what
> > is
> > important to the pro-lifers." 
> > 
> > But the account is also a reminder that, although
> > Thompson is positioning himself to run as an
> > anti-establishment outsider, his resume is that of
> a
> > consummate Washington insider.
> > 
> > "He wasn't the conservative firebrand some are
> > making
> > him out to be now," Carney said.
> > 
> > 
> >
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > janet.hook at latimes.com
> > 
> > --
> > 
> > Times staff writer Mark Barabak contributed to
> this
> > report.
> > 
> > 
> >
>
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-thompson7jul07,1,1358124.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
> > 
> > >From the Los Angeles Times
> > 
> > Thompson lobbied for abortion-rights group, it
> says
> > 
> > A spokesman for the GOP presidential hopeful says
> he
> > did no such work. An ex-colleague calls the denial
> > 'bizarre.
> > '
> > By Michael Finnegan
> > Times Staff Writer
> > 
> > July 7, 2007
> > 
> > Fred D. Thompson, who is campaigning for president
> > as
> > an antiabortion Republican, accepted an assignment
> > from a family-planning group to lobby the first
> Bush
> > White House to ease a controversial abortion
> > restriction, according to a 1991 document and
> > several
> > people familiar with the matter. 
> > 
> > A spokesman for the former Tennessee senator
> denied
> > that Thompson did the lobbying work. But the
> minutes
> > of a 1991 board meeting of the National Family
> > Planning and Reproductive Health Assn. say that
> the
> > group hired Thompson that year.
> > 
> > His task was to urge the administration of
> President
> > George H. W. Bush to withdraw or relax a rule that
> > barred abortion counseling at clinics that
> received
> > federal money, according to the records and to
> > people
> > who worked on the matter.
> > 
> > The abortion "gag rule" was then a major political
> > flashpoint. Lobbying against the rule would have
> > placed Thompson at odds with the antiabortion
> > movement
> > that he is now trying to rally behind his expected
> > declaration of a presidential bid. 
> > 
> > Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo adamantly denied
> > that
> > Thompson worked for the family planning group.
> "Fred
> > Thompson did not lobby for this group, period," he
> > said in an e-mail. 
> > 
> > In a telephone interview, he added: "There's no
> > documents to prove it, there's no billing records,
> > and
> > Thompson says he has no recollection of it, says
> it
> > didn't happen." In a separate interview, John H.
> > Sununu, the White House official whom the family
> > planning group wanted to contact, said he had no
> > memory of the lobbying and doubted it took place.
> > 
> > But Judith DeSarno, who was president of the
> family
> > planning association in 1991, said Thompson
> lobbied
> > for the group for several months.
> > 
> > Minutes from the board's meeting of Sept. 14, 1991
> —
> > a
> > copy of which DeSarno gave to The Times — say:
> "Judy
> > [DeSarno] reported that the association had hired
> > Fred
> > Thompson Esq. as counsel to aid us in discussions
> > with
> > the administration" on the abortion counseling
> rule.
> > 
> > Former Rep. Michael D. Barnes (D-Md.), a colleague
> > at
> > the lobbying and law firm where Thompson worked,
> > said
> > that DeSarno had asked him to recommend someone
> for
> > the lobbying work and that he had suggested
> > Thompson.
> > He said it was "absolutely bizarre" for Thompson
> to
> > deny that he lobbied against the abortion
> counseling
> > rule.
> > 
> > "I talked to him while he was doing it, and I
> talked
> > to [DeSarno] about the fact that she was very
> > pleased
> > with the work that he was doing for her
> > organization,"
> > said Barnes. "I have strong, total recollection of
> > that. This is not something I dreamed up or she
> > dreamed up. This is fact."
> > 
> > DeSarno said that Thompson, after being hired,
> > reported to her that he had held multiple
> > conversations about the abortion rule with Sununu,
> > who
> > was then the White House chief of staff and the
> > president's point man on the rule.
> > 
> > Thompson kept her updated on his progress in
> > telephone
> > conversations and over meals at Washington
> > restaurants, including dinner at Galileo and lunch
> > at
> > the Monocle, she said. At one of the meals, she
> > recalled, Thompson told her that Sununu had just
> > given
> > him tickets for a VIP tour of the White House for
> a
> > Thompson son and his wife.
> > 
> > "It would be an odd thing for me to construct that
> > thing out of whole cloth," DeSarno said. "It
> > happened,
> > and I think it's quite astonishing they're denying
> > it."
> > 
> > Sununu said in a telephone interview: "I don't
> > recall
> > him ever lobbying me on that at all. I don't think
> > that ever happened. In fact, I know that never
> > happened." He added that he had "absolutely no
> idea"
> > whether Thompson had met with anybody else at the
> > White House, but said it would have been a waste
> of
> > time, given the president's opposition to abortion
> > rights.
> > 
> > In response to Sununu's denial, DeSarno said
> > Thompson
> > "owes NFPRHA a bunch of money" if he never talked
> to
> > Sununu as he said he had.
> > 
> > At the time, Thompson was a lobbyist and lawyer
> "of
> > counsel" to the Washington firm of Arent Fox
> Kintner
> > Plotkin & Kahn.
> > 
> > DeSarno said the family planning association paid
> > the
> > firm for Thompson's work. Marc L. Fleischaker,
> > chairman of Arent Fox, declined to comment.
> > 
> > Corallo, the spokesman for Thompson, was asked
> > Friday
> > about the board minutes and the five people who
> said
> > they recalled Thompson accepting the lobbying
> > assignment. He responded in an e-mail, saying that
> > Thompson "may have been consulted by one of [his]
> > firm's partners who represented this group in
> 1991."
> > 
> > Corallo said it was "not unusual for one lawyer on
> > one
> > side of an issue to be asked to give advice to
> > colleagues for clients who engage in conduct or
> > activities with which they personally disagree."
> > 
> > Any work that Thompson did to challenge the
> abortion
> > rule could complicate his appeals to conservatives
> > in
> > the contest for the Republican presidential
> > nomination. He reportedly plans to join the race
> > this
> > month.
> > 
> > For weeks, Thompson has tried to pick up support
> > from
> > religious conservatives dissatisfied with the top
> > GOP
> > White House contenders, some of whom have backed
> > abortion rights. In a videotaped message to the
> > National Right to Life Convention in Kansas City
> > last
> > month, Thompson said the group's issues were "ever
> > more profound to me as the years go by."
> > 
> > A senator from December 1994 to January 2003,
> > Thompson
> > voted along antiabortion lines, but his statements
> > have occasionally raised questions about his
> > attitude
> > toward the cause.
> > 
> > On Fox News last month, he was asked why he
> checked
> > a
> > box on a questionnaire in his 1994 Senate campaign
> > beside a statement saying that abortion "should be
> > legal in all circumstances for the first three
> > months."
> > 
> > "I don't remember that box," Thompson replied.
> "You
> > know, it was a long time ago, and I don't know if
> I
> > filled it out or my staff, based on what they
> > thought
> > my position was, filled it out."
> > 
> > The Tennessean newspaper reported that Thompson,
> > when
> > filling out a 1996 Christian Coalition survey,
> > marked
> > himself as "opposed" to a constitutional amendment
> > protecting "the sanctity of human life." 
> > 
> > The newspaper said he included a handwritten
> > notation
> > saying: "I do not believe abortion should be
> > criminalized. This battle will be won in the
> hearts
> > and souls of the American people."
> > 
> > In recent weeks, Thompson has described himself as
> > fundamentally "pro-life," saying the issue has
> > "meant
> > a little more to me" since seeing the sonogram of
> > his
> > now-3-year-old daughter.
> > 
> > Best known for playing a district attorney on
> NBC's
> > "Law and Order," Thompson worked as a part-time
> > lobbyist over nearly three decades, both before
> and
> > after his Senate service. His clients included a
> > General Electric aircraft-engine maker,
> Westinghouse
> > Electric Corp. and the Equitas insurance company.
> > 
> > DeSarno and others said the family planning group
> > hired Thompson shortly after the Supreme Court
> > upheld
> > the "gag rule" in 1991. 
> > 
> > That ruling led to a protracted tussle between
> Bush
> > and Congress. The rule was eliminated in 1993 by
> > President Clinton on his third day in office.
> > 
> > In addition to Barnes and DeSarno, three other
> > people
> > said they recalled Thompson lobbying against the
> > rule
> > on behalf of the family planning association.
> > 
> > Susan Cohen, a member of the association's board
> of
> > directors in 1991, said in reference to DeSarno
> and
> > Thompson: "We were looking, of course, for a
> > Republican who might have some inroads to the
> White
> > House at that time, and so that's how she came
> upon
> > contacting him." 
> > 
> > Said Bill Hamilton, who then directed the
> Washington
> > office of the Planned Parenthood Federation of
> > America, a group that was DeSarno's main ally in
> > lobbying on the abortion counseling rule: "I
> > definitely recall her reaching out to [Thompson]
> and
> > engaging him in some way, and trying to squeeze
> the
> > White House through him." 
> > 
> > Sarah L. Szanton, who worked for DeSarno as
> director
> > of government relations for the family planning
> > association, agreed that Thompson "consulted on
> our
> > behalf against the gag rule."
> > 
> > "I remember that he did it," Szanton said. "I just
> > knew he was part of the good fight."
> > 
> > The National Family Planning and Reproductive
> Health
> > Assn. is a Washington nonprofit organization that
> > represents family planning clinics and other
> groups.
> > It advocates "reproductive freedom" and broad
> access
> > to birth control.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > 
> > michael.finnegan at latimes.com
> > 
> > 
> > ART KELLY, ATM-S
> > 13524 Brightfield Lane
> > Herndon, Virginia 20171-3360
> > (703) 904-3763 home
> > (703) 396-6956 work
> > arthurkelly at yahoo.com
> > art.kelly at cox.net
> > ArtK135 at Netscape.net
> > 
> > 
> >
>
____________________________________________________________________________________
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> > _______________________________________________
> > Apologetics mailing list
> > Apologetics at gathman.org
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> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Like a deer that longs for running waters so my
> soul
> > longs for you, O God.
> > 
> > Ps 42:1
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > ---------------------------------
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> 
> ART KELLY, ATM-S
> 13524 Brightfield Lane
> Herndon, Virginia 20171-3360
> (703) 904-3763 home
> (703) 396-6956 work
> arthurkelly at yahoo.com
> art.kelly at cox.net
> ArtK135 at Netscape.net
> 
> 
> 
>
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> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Like a deer that longs for running waters so my soul
> longs for you, O God.
> 
> Ps 42:1
>  
>  
> 
> 
> 
>        
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ART KELLY, ATM-S
13524 Brightfield Lane
Herndon, Virginia 20171-3360
(703) 904-3763 home
(703) 396-6956 work
arthurkelly at yahoo.com
art.kelly at cox.net
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