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Revision as of 00:28, 17 November 2004

Thomas Allen Coburn (March 14, 1948) is a politician and U.S. Senator-elect from the state of Oklahoma.

Coburn was born in Casper, Wyoming and graduated from Oklahoma State University. He was a physician, and a deacon in the Southern Baptist Church, until he ran for the House of Representatives as a Republican. Coburn faced a 71-year-old former principal, and defeated him by a 52%-48% margin.

In 1997, Coburn introduced an amendment (H.R. 1026) to the Social Security Act called the HIV Prevention Act of 1997. The amendment proposed a number of situations where HIV tests would be mandated or available on request and that all results of HIV tests be made available to state officials.

As a Congressman, Coburn opposed abortion and the V-chip. He kept his pledge to serve only three terms and left the house in 2001.

Coburn defeated Brad Carson to win Oklahoma's open U.S. Senate seat in the November 2004 election. Controversy has hovered around him due to him making comments critical of playing Schindler's List on NBC and calling for doctors who perform abortions to be subject to the death penalty. Also, a campaign worker for Coburn declared the race to be one between good and evil.

The most significant controversy is the allegation that Coburn sterilized a woman without her consent on November 7 1990 resulting in a civil malpractice suit. Coburn contends that he had her oral consent, but he did not get the legally required written consent. Coburn admitted that he performed the same procedure on "lots" of women. He also admitted during testimony that he charged Medicaid for the procedure, although the patient did not meet the age requirement of 21.

External links

• Coburn campaign website
• "Medicine man" - Salon.com, Sept. 13, 2004

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