Former Secretary of Health and Human Services and Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) is again denying his previous support for much of the Affordable Care Act. Nancy-Ann DeParle, President Obama’s healthcare adviser, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Tuesday that Thompson had been a key backer of the law’s implementation prior to his current Senate campaign. He is the Republican nominee against Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D) for the open seat of retiring Sen. Herb Kohl (D).

The paper reports Thompson attended a high-profile implementation strategy meeting, two years ago:

“He was, from what we could tell, working toward implementation,” DeParle said. “I’m not going to say that he agreed with every single provision that ended up in the law – I won’t say that. But he was very helpful in implementation and we asked for his help and he said he would help us.

“Then I don’t know, he decided he’s not for it now but he certainly was then. . . . He seems to have swerved to the right,” she said.

Thompson’s campaign immediately disputed the characterization, claiming he has “has always opposed Obamacare.” A year ago, Thompson told ABC News ” I did not support Obamacare. I’ve come out against Obamacare time and time again.”

But last June, in a Huffington Post editorial, Thompson urged Republican governors to adopt the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges. Last April, he lauded Obamacare’s payment reform provisions, saying they give “great discretion” for exermination with “alternative payment systems.” He even tried to dissuade Republicans from repealing the measure, telling CNBC in November 2010, “When it’s all said and done, you’re not going to be able to repeal health care because President Obama is not going to sign it… And they don’t have enough votes to override a veto, so why push a cart uphill when you know it’s not going to be able to get to the top?”

Thompson is now apparently eager to “push a cart uphill” — his campaign website lists “repealing Obamacare and replacing it with market-based solutions” among his top legislative priorities.

Stemming from conservatives’ objection to Obamacare regulations that will provide more preventive services to women — like contraception — without a co-pay, women’s health has become a key issue in the 2012 election. And according to Wonkblog’s Sarah Kliff, it shows in the spending on campaign ads:

Behind the scenes, candidates and outside groups have poured at least $16.8 million into abortion-related advertising during the 2012 cycle, more than two-thirds of which has come from the Obama campaign and its allies.

The total figure is nearly twice the amount spent on Medicare-related advertising in 2012 and three times as much as groups have spent on immigration-related spots, according to the media tracking firm CMAG/Kantar Media.

At that point in the 2008 election cycle, CMAG had not seen any presidential campaign ads that touched on women’s health and reproduction.

During her speech on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention, NARAL Pro-Choice America president Nancy Keenan highlighted several of the controversies that have erupted over restrictions to abortion access, like Virginia’s proposed transvaginal ultrasound bill that legislators changed after facing a national outcry, and Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-MO) recent comments about “legitimate rape” not causing pregnancies. After her speech, Keenan told Kliff, “These issues have been magnified, elevated and catapulted up to the presidential level.”

As groups pour money into ads about abortion and women’s health, a Pew Research Center poll shows that roughly half of voters report that the Democratic Party better reflect their views on abortion compared with 33 percent who chose the Republican Party. Additionally, women voters prefer Democrats on abortion 52 percent to 32 percent.

President Obama’s health care reform law, which Republicans have attempted to repeal over 30 times, has sharply divided the political conversation about health policy. Mitt Romney typically shies away from taking credit for implementing the health care policies that provided the foundation for Obamacare, and even Democratic lawmakers who supported health care reform have been timid about articulating its merits.

However, at last night’s Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, Democrats fully embraced their role in passing historic health care reform. As Ezra Klein points out, last night’s speeches may be remembered as the turning point in health care politics when “Democrats stood up and began fighting for their health care law.”

Tuesday’s prime time speakers — ranging from Stacy Lihn, whose daughter has a congenital heart defect and wouldn’t be eligible for coverage without Obamacare, to the first lady, who said her husband always knew that health care reform was “the right thing to do” — all touted Obama’s health policy as a landmark achievement:

STACY LIHN: “Like so many moms with sick children, I shed tears and I could breathe easier knowing we have that net below us to catch us if we fall, or if, God forbid, Zoe needs a heart transplant — Obamacare provides my family security and relief. But we’re also scared. Governor Romney repealing health care reform is something we worry about literally every day.” [Transcript]

HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: “For us Democrats, Obamacare is a badge of honor. Because no matter who you are, what stage of life you’re in, this law is a good thing.” [Transcript]

MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL (D-Chicago): “President Obama took office knowing full well that for the last century, presidents had tried to reform our health care system…Because of the president’s leadership, every American will have access to affordable, quality health care. That was the change we believed in. That was the change we fought for. That was the change President Obama delivered.” [Transcript]

GOV. DEVAL PATRICK (D-MA): “This is the president who delivered the security of affordable health care to every single American after 90 years of trying.” [Transcript]

MAYOR JULIAN CASTRO (D-San Antonio): “Seven presidents before him — Democrats and Republicans — tried to expand health care to all Americans. President Obama got it done.” [Transcript]

FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA: “When it comes to the health of our families, Barack refused to listen to all those folks who told him to leave health reform for another day, another president. He didn’t care whether it was the easy thing to do politically — that’s not how he was raised — he cared that it was the right thing to do. He did it because he believes that here in America, our grandparents should be able to afford their medicine, our kids should be able to see a doctor when they’re sick, and no one in this country should ever go broke because of an accident or illness.” [Transcript]

Agricultural giant Monsanto Company has risen to the top of the corporate food chain largely thanks to its seeds. These are no ordinary seeds — they have been genetically modified (GM) to withstand and even produce herbicides and pesticides. Monsanto’s GM corn and soybean seeds have become so widespread over the past two decades that now, a new crop of “superweeds” have evolved to resist these potent chemicals. Farmers then have little choice but to buy Monsanto’s beefed up seeds in an arms race with nature.

Now, the EPA is launching a review of one of Monsanto’s corn strains engineered to produce the natural pesticide Bt. As the agency told Bloomberg, “There is mounting evidence raising concerns that insect resistance is developing in parts of the corn belt,” where Monsanto’s corn dominates the fields. Root worms exposed to the corn’s toxin seem to have become immune to it, breeding an unprecedented colony of superworms that are bound to spread throughout the entire Midwest.

Meanwhile, Monsanto recently released a new sweet corn variety containing the Bt pesticide. And for the first time, Monsanto will market this corn as fresh produce, rather than an ingredient for processed foods. Although Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and General Mills have refused to carry the corn, Walmart will start stocking the GM sweet corn in the coming months, without any label to let consumers know what they are buying.

And Monsanto hopes to keep consumers in the dark. The company recently spent $4.2 million trying to kill a November ballot initiative in California that would require labeling on food products containing genetically modified ingredients. Proposition 37 would bring the state in line with Japan, China, the European Union, and Australia, which already require labels on genetically modified foods. 91 percent of Americans support GMO labeling.

Opponents of Proposition 37 claim GMOs are harmless and would unfairly bias people toward the organic food industry. Though there has been no conclusive evidence that eating GMOs leads to health problems, the FDA does not require safety studies before approving them and Monsanto has lobbied the USDA to reject any and all outside studies when considering applications for new strains. Leaving health aside, the onslaught of superweeds and superworms alone should afford Californians the chance to decide what types of food they want to support.

For the past several months, Planned Parenthood has been embroiled in a legal battle with the state of Texas as the organization’s funding hangs in the balance. After Republicans officials in Texas cut off Planned Parenthood’s funding by making it ineligible for the state’s Medicaid-funded Women’s Health Program, a court sided with Texas to uphold the law targeting the organization. Women’s health advocates held a public hearing yesterday to speak on behalf of Planned Parenthood, emphasizing the court ruling’s blow to women across the state.

Although Texas Republicans have chosen to target Planned Parenthood in their crusade against abortion, saying the organization should be excluded from the state’s Women’s Health Fund because Medicaid funds shouldn’t go to abortion providers, the speakers at the hearing explained that Texas’ Planned Parenthood clinics actually provide critical preventative health services — not abortions — to low-income women:

State Rep. Donna Howard, an Austin Democrat, noted that abortion was a moot point since Women’s Health Program rules exclude women who are pregnant.

“None of the women’s health providers actually conduct abortions. That is not an issue here,” she told the hearing, “and I am concerned about the Legislature and leadership in this state actually holding women’s health care hostage to some political agenda.” [...]

Randall Ellis of Legacy Community Health Services, which operates five clinics around Harris County, said Texas would be hurting a program that has proved effective. “We’re basically destroying the infrastructure that we have built up across the state to provide family planning services to women,” he said.

Excluding Planned Parenthood from the program leaves the organization without state or federal funds for their health programs, which provided cancer screenings and contraceptive services for low-income women. Speakers pointed to studies showing that, without adequate funding for Planned Parenthood clinics, other health clinics across the state would have to take on five times as many patients to provide Texas women with the same access to health care. However, attacks on Planned Parenthood have already forced at least 50 unaffiliated health clinics to close, leaving even fewer clinics to shoulder the increased burden.