Cameron falsely claimed Thompson is "consistently pro-life"

On the May 31 edition of Fox News' Special Report, Fox News chief political correspondent Carl Cameron falsely asserted that former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) "is ... consistently pro-life." In fact, on July 29, 1993, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported that Thompson, then running for a Tennessee U.S. Senate seat, said during an interview that he "supports the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision that established a constitutional right to abortion." In an October 21, 1994, article, The Washington Post similarly reported that "both" Thompson and his Democratic opponent in the 1994 Senate race, then-Rep. Jim Cooper, "believe in legal abortion."

Further, as The New York Sun's "Latest Politics Blog" reported, Thompson indicated in a 1994 Project Vote Smart questionnaire that he believed "[a]bortions should be legal in all circumstances as long as the procedure is completed within the first trimester of the pregnancy" (while also indicating his support for numerous restrictions).

According to a March 12 Associated Press article, Thompson now says that he "[i]s 'pro-life' and believes federal judges should overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision as 'bad law and bad medical science.' "

From the May 31 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:

CAMERON: Mitt Romney is affected too and perhaps a lot. He's a Mormon, aggressively courting social conservatives, though he was pro-choice just two years ago. Well, Thompson is a Southerner and consistently pro-life and conservative. Evangelical leaders are more enthusiastic about his candidacy than any other.

—R.S.K.