Thompson Opposes a Woman’s Right to Choose “For any Reason”
Wisconsin Democrats are today calling on Tommy Thompson to return more than $100,000 in campaign contributions raised jointly with disgraced U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock, who on Tuesday night stated that pregnancy resulting from rape was a “gift from God.”
Federal Election Commission documents show that the campaigns of both Tommy Thompson and Richard Mourdock were members of a joint fundraising committee called the Founders’ Committee, which raised $101,538 for Thompson’s campaign in just a matter of months.
Like Mourdock, Thompson holds the fringe belief that abortion should be illegal even in cases of rape or incest.
In 2000, Thompson authored the Republican Party Platform, which included a Constitutional amendment banning all abortions, even in cases of rape, incest and when the life of the mother is at risk. In a 2007 Republican presidential debate, the moderator asked the candidates: “Would the day that Roe v. Wade is repealed be a good day for America?” Thompson responded: “Yes.”
And in the 2012 race for U.S. Senate, Wisconsin Right to Life endorsed Thompson for his opposition to “abortion throughout pregnancy, for any reason.”
“By holding on to the campaign cash he raised with Richard Mourdock, Tommy Thompson is telling women that he agrees with Richard Mourdock’s extreme and offensive belief that victims of rape should view a resulting pregnancy as a ‘gift from God,’” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Executive Director Maggie Brickerman said Thursday. “Tommy Thompson should immediately return the cash he raised with Mourdock and fully withdraw any support for Mourdock’s candidacy.”
