Bill Frist

William Harrison Frist (born February 22, 1952 in Nashville, Tennessee) is a Republican U.S. Senator from Tennessee and a cardiac surgeon. Since 2003, he has served as Senate Majority Leader. He is frequently mentioned as a potential candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

Ideology and issues

Frist's primary legislative focus has been on issues of concern to the health care industry. He opposes guarantees that health care be provided to all Americans, favoring instead free markets for health care services. The senator also opposes abortion. In the Senate, he led the fight against intact dilation and extraction (also known as partial-birth abortion). He voted for the Partial-Birth Abortion Act of 2003, voted against an amendment to include a women's health exception (as he considered the procedure to be hazardous to a women's health), and is opposed to all federal funding of abortion. http://frist.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=1366 Despite this, Frist retains a large personal stock holding in the Frist family's for-profit hospital chain (Hospital Corporation of America), which provides abortions. At least one pro-life mutual fund refuses to invest in HCA because of its abortion services. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30124http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/809651/posts Frist supports a total ban on human cloning, even for purposes of stem cell research. He supports programs to fight AIDS and African poverty. He travels to Africa frequently to provide medical care.

Related Topics:
Free market - Abortion - Intact dilation and extraction - Partial-Birth Abortion Act - Human cloning - Stem cell - AIDS - African poverty - Africa

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Since 2001, Frist had stood beside President Bush in his insistence that only currently existing lines be used for stem cell research. But in July 2005, Frist reversed course and endorsed a House-passed plan to expand federal funding of the research, saying "it's not just a matter of faith, it's a matter of science." Up to that point the legislation had been considered bottled up in the Senate. The decision quickly drew criticism from social conservatives such as James Dobson, but garnered praise from Democrats and former First Lady Nancy Reagan.

Related Topics:
2001 - July 2005 - James Dobson - Nancy Reagan

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During an interview on December 5, 2004, Frist, who is a supporter of abstinence-only education, was asked about a government-funded abstinence education program that stated AIDS could be transmitted by sweat and tears. Despite there being no medical evidence to support such a statement, Frist responded: "I don't know. You can get the virus in tears and sweat. But in terms of infecting somebody, it would be very hard."

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On education, Frist supports the controversial No Child Left Behind Act, which passed in 2001 with bipartisan support. In August 2005 he announced his support for teaching of intelligent design.

Related Topics:
No Child Left Behind Act - August 2005 - Intelligent design

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