Fred Thompson Calls Himself 'Unabashedly Pro-Life,' Defends Lobbying Record

Former Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.), who is considering running for the Republican presidential nomination, in an interview on Friday called himself "unabashedly pro-life" and said he has "no apologies to make" about his 20-year lobbying career, the AP/Boston Globe reports (Fournier/Glover, AP/Boston Globe, 8/18).

According to billing records for the law firm Arent Fox, where Thompson worked part time from 1991 to 1994, Thompson charged about $5,000 to the
National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, which supports abortion rights, for nearly 20 hours of work in 1991 and 1992. Thompson billed the group for 3.3 hours of lobbying "administration officials," as well as for 22 conversations with then NFPRHA President Judith DeSarno, according to the billing records.

DeSarno has said that in 1991, NFPRHA hired Thompson to urge the George H.W. Bush administration to withdraw or relax a federal policy on funding restrictions for clinics that provided abortion-related counseling. Minutes from a NFPRHA board meeting on Sept. 14, 1991, reportedly state that the group had "hired Fred Thompson Esq. as counsel to aid us in discussions with the administration" on the abortion-counseling policy.

Thompson in a column posted July 11 on the blog Power Line said he does not remember but will not dispute evidence alleging that he lobbied for NFPRHA. In the column, Thompson wrote that if a "client has a legal and ethical right to take a position, then you may appropriately represent him as long as he does not lie or otherwise conduct himself improperly while you are representing him" (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/24).

Thompson on Friday said he has an unclear memory of his work for NFPRHA, adding, "I clearly did some work. I proceeded after that to go to the United States Senate and oppose them on every matter that came up." He said there is nothing abnormal or wrong about lawyers representing clients with different views than their own, adding, "It has nothing to do with one's political views" (AP/Boston Globe, 8/18).

Senate Letters
In related news, Thompson while serving as a senator had two letters to respond to people who wrote to him about abortion -- one labeled "pro abortion" and the other labeled "con abortion," the AP/WKRN reports. The letters, dated 1995 and obtained at the University of Tennessee, both call abortion a "subject on which many people have strong and deeply held personal convictions" and say that Thompson generally believed "government should not interfere with individual convictions and actions in this area."

The letter to abortion-rights opponents contains a statement not in the other letter that Thompson voted for an amendment banning federal funding of abortions except in cases of rape, incest or when a pregnant woman's life is in jeopardy. The letter to abortion-rights supporters says that Thompson did not believe health care workers should have to perform abortions "against their personal convictions" and that he opposed "the use of taxpayer funds to promote or perform abortions" (Mansfield, AP/WKRN, 8/18).

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Blogs Comment On Global HIV Policy, N.J. Family Planning Bill, Other Topics

The following summarizes selected women's health-related blog entries.

~ "Why Are We Still Funding Abstinence-Only Programming?" Mary Beth Hastings, RH Reality Check: Despite a pledge by the Obama administration that "science will finally trump ideology when it comes to global AIDS prevention," the White House "called for proposals to implement ["Abstain and Be Faithful"]-only programs in Nigeria for youth and couples," Hastings writes. The so-called AB-only programs do not offer information about male and female condoms to young people or couples, instead offering that information to high-risk groups, including commercial sex workers, men who have sex with men, and truck drivers, according to Hastings. "Here's the thing that U.S. decisionmakers still don't seem to get: giving condoms to truck drivers and AB messages to 'regular' couples is not comprehensive prevention," she writes, adding, "Marketing female condoms to sex workers while young people can't get access to them is the same rights-violating, health-endangering idiocy that has been failing for the past decade." During the recently concluded XVIII International AIDS Conference, many advocates were "talking and protesting about funding, demanding world leaders not to let up on funding the global AIDS response," Hastings continues. "We're taking it a step further and asking that world leaders fund programs that work -- because especially in this context, it is criminal for the U.S. to fund anything but the best in HIV prevention," she concludes (Hastings, RH Reality Check, 7/23).

~ "Why is Washington State Flip-Flopping on Pharmacy Refusal?" Amie Newman, RH Reality Check: Women's health and rights advocates in Washington state "are in a state of confused uproar" after the Board of Pharmacy "[s]uddenly and without warning" proposed a change to a 2007 rule that "required pharmacies to fill all prescriptions regardless of a pharmacist's personal objection to a patient or a particular medication," including contraception, Newman writes. The "unexpected switchback" comes as advocates for the original rule were preparing to fight a lawsuit brought by two pharmacist "who claimed the rule infringed on their first amendment rights," she continues, adding that the lawsuit "has been stayed, meaning the proceedings are suspended, much to the dismay of women's rights advocates." The changed rule will "allow pharmacists the right to 'facilitated referral' rather than mandate they fill prescriptions on site," which means that patients "can now be denied their medication at the whim of an individual pharmacists or pharmacy and be forced to go somewhere else," according to Newman. She writes that the issue "sits squarely in the laps of the Board of Pharmacy who has, without rhyme or reason, re-written the rule mid-game." The public should "decide whether a person's right to access their legal medication at any pharmacy is paramount," Newman writes, concluding, "Whether this is the case or not remains to be seen" (Newman, RH Reality Check, 7/23).














~ "New Jersey Gov. Christie Vetoes Funding for Crucial Family Planning Services," Feminists for Choice: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) recent veto of a bill (S 2139) that would have restored $7.5 million in state funding for family planning centers was "a result of naive short-term economic thinking," the blog states. Christie explained that his veto was based on "his priority ... to cut spending and decrease the burden on New Jersey taxpayers," the blog adds. However, "the cost of not having comprehensive reproductive health care services significantly increases the financial burden on both the state and the citizens of New Jersey," the blog continues. "To little surprise, Gov. Christie is only thinking about short-term cost without taking into consideration the long-term benefits that family planning services provide the state and local communities." According to the blog, "Despite Gov. Christie's 'assurance' that this veto is based primarily on budgetary concerns, the New Jersey Right to Life, along with several anti-choice Republicans in the Assembly and Senate, are using this veto as momentum to fuel their ideological battle against reproductive health care." The blog's author writes, "If I had it my way, our tax dollars wouldn't be spent on bankrupt anti-choice abstinence only programs ... [or] a variety of other useless right-wing ideological agendas," adding, "Family planning ... has sustainable economic benefits on top of the social advantages provided through reproductive health care services" (Feminists for Choice, 7/24).

~ "An Update on Missouri ... The Good, the Bad, the Ugly," Pamela Merritt, RH Reality Check: "With the 2010 Abortion Restriction Law (SB 793), Missouri adds more restrictions on access to abortion to the more than 30 restrictions already on the books," making abortion "the most regulated medical procedure in Missouri," Merritt writes. The law "forces women to receive state-mandated materials that contain ideological messages aimed at causing emotional distress" and statements that "are not widely agreed-upon by physicians and are not medically accurate," she writes. However, the state Legislature also provided "an example of how state government should work when prevention legislation became law with the passage of HB 1375," which promotes education and treatment of human papillomavirus, she writes. Missouri legislators have shown that they "can do the right thing for Missourians and support legislation that promotes reproductive health care," but the "question remains whether Missouri legislators will do the right thing in 2011" (Merritt, RH Reality Check, 7/27).



Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families.


© 2010 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.

Obama's Economic Stimulus Plan Includes Medicaid Family Planning Provision

As President Obama's $825 billion stimulus package heads to the floor of the House of Representatives this week, some Republican lawmakers are criticizing parts of the plan, the New York Times reports (Otterman, New York Times, 1/26). House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) specifically expressed concerns with a provision to allow states to expand Medicaid coverage of family planning services, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Immediately following Obama's meeting with Congress, Boehner said, "How can you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives? How does that stimulate the economy?" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) defended the spending on family planning services, saying that such initiatives would "reduce cost" and that states are "in a terrible fiscal budget crisis right now...and what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements, are to help the states meet their financial needs" (Coile, San Francisco Chronicle, 1/26).


Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.


© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy For Sexual Dysfunctions In Women

Drs. Moniek ter Kuile, Stephanie Both, and Jacques van Lankveld have authored a superb review of cognitive behavioral therapy for sexual dysfunctions in women that is highly recommended for providers who treat IC/BPS and its often-associated symptoms of sexual dysfunction. The review suggests to me that our literature in this regard is sorely lacking, and that our knowledge of definitions of this problem is every bit as important as definitions of IC/BPS itself if we are to make progress in treatment.


Dyspareunia is defined in DSM-IV-TR as recurrent genital pain associated with sexual intercourse that causes distress and interpersonal problems. There would seem to be a symptom of dyspareunia as well as a disorder. The disorder should not be diagnosed if it is caused exclusively by vaginismus, lack of lubrication, or a medical condition. Dyspareunia is typically described as either superficial or deep. The latter is almost always somatic. Provoked vestibulodynia disorder (PVD) was previously referred to as vulvar vestibulitis syndrome and is the most frequent type of superficial dyspareunia in premenopausal women. It is a burning or pain localized strictly to the vestibule of the vulva and provoked by pressure or friction. The presence or absence of inflammation in the vestibule is debated. Generalized vulvodynia is rare and is diagnosed when the pain is located on the whole vulva. It is a chronic pain problem rather than a sexual problem. There is a wide range of prevalence estimates for dyspareunia going up to one-third of younger women and 45% of older women.


The cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) model is a circular one. It is assumed that pain during penetration or catastrophic memories of that pain lead to fear of pain and hypervigilance in new sexual situations. Fear of penetration results in decreased sexual arousal as well as vaginal dryness and/or increased pelvic floor muscle tone. A vicious cycle results.


CBT is often delivered in a group format with 8-10 weekly sessions encompassed by education and information about 1)vestibulodynia and dyspareunia, 2) a multifactorial view of pain, and 3) sexual anatomy. Instruction is given in progressive muscle relaxation, abdominal breathing, Kegel exercises, vaginal dilatation, distraction techniques focusing on sexual imagery, rehearsal of coping self-statements, communication skills training, and cognitive restructuring.


EMG and biofeedback training (behavioral modification), CBT, pharmacological therapy, and surgery all have similar efficacy. Effect sizes are modest. The authors conclude noting that painless intercourse may not be a realistic therapeutic goal for many women. Nevertheless, it would seem that these techniques may benefit a subset of IC/BPS women, and referral for sexual therapy is not an unreasonable approach in conjunction with treatment of the primary disorder.


ter Kuile MM, Both S, van Lankveld JJ


Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2010 Sep;33(3):595-610.


doi: 10.1016/j.psc.2010.04.010


UroToday Contributing Editor Philip M. Hanno, MD, MPH



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Kansas Judge Dismisses Charges Filed By AG Kline Against Physician Tiller For Allegedly Performing Illegal Late-Term Abortions

Sedgwick County, Kan., District Judge Paul Clark on Wednesday ruled against reinstating criminal charges filed last month by state Attorney General Phill Kline (R) against physician George Tiller for allegedly performing illegal late-term abortions on women, the AP/Washington Post reports. Kline filed 30 misdemeanor charges against Tiller -- who owns the Wichita, Kan.-based abortion clinic Women's Health Care Services -- for allegedly performing 15 illegal late-term abortions in 2003 on patients ages 10 to 22 without properly reporting the details to the state (Hanna, AP/Washington Post, 12/28/06). Kline asked Clark to reconsider his ruling, and, after reviewing the arguments again, the judge announced at a hearing Wednesday that he is upholding his previous decision, the Los Angeles Times reports (Simon, Los Angeles Times, 12/28/06).

Reaction
State Attorney General-elect Paul Morrison (D), who defeated Kline in the November 2006 election, after the hearing Wednesday in a statement said he would review the evidence thoroughly, adding, "Kansans expect more from their attorney general than grandstanding and political stunts." He also said he plans to "refocus the vast resources of the attorney general's office" (Los Angeles Times, 12/28/06). Morrison would not rule out assigning a special prosecutor to the case, but he said that if he did the person "certainly" would not be McKinney, who Kline recently appointed to the case. "He is extraordinarily political and, in my opinion, would absolutely not present any kind of independent perspective," Morrison said (AP/USA Today, 12/28/06). McKinney declined to respond to Morrison's comments but said that the state has enacted laws to "protect babies that are about to be born" and that "those laws need to be enforced and not winked at" (Hanna, AP/International Herald Tribune, 12/28/06). Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston (D) has asked Kline to give her office his evidence against Tiller so that she can decide whether to file charges, but Kline has said repeatedly that he intends to continue the investigation from the attorney general's office. "The investigation ... is ongoing," Kline said Wednesday (Los Angeles Times, 12/28/06). Meanwhile, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) on Thursday criticized Kline for his actions against Tiller, the AP/Wichita Eagle reports. "It is not appropriate, to me, to have an attorney general who isn't following Kansas law," Sebelius said (Hanna, AP/Wichita Eagle, 12/29/06).

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.