Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson may not be the GOP nominee for senate yet, but EMILY’s List is treating him like one.  And they’re touting his anti-abortion record as one reason not to support him.  But are the claims true?

Politifact says “half true.”

In support of Baldwin’s Senate bid, EMILY’s List said Thompson had “pushed such strict laws that abortion providers faced potential life imprisonment and women were forced to cross state lines in order to receive attention for life-threatening issues.”

A partial-birth abortion ban that Thompson signed into law as Wisconsin’s governor did contain the life imprisonment provision.

The law also caused many abortion providers, at least for a few days, to stop performing abortions. That means it was possible some Wisconsin women had to leave the state in order to get an abortion. But there is no proof, as EMILY’s List claimed, that women were forced to leave the state “to receive attention for life-threatening issues.”

We rate the EMILY’s List statement Half True.

“Some women had to leave the state, but we can’t guarantee it was life-threatening?”  Sounds like reaching to me.