Sunday, November 26, 2006

Bush nominee to head family planning considers "contraception demeaning to women"


Continuing a pattern of finding the most unqualified people for his appointments, Bush may have outdone himself.
Keroack is a Massachusetts gynecologist opposed to abortion, family planning, and, apparently, the scientific method in general. He is the medical director for a string of crisis-pregnancy clinics that actively discourage abortion and consider birth control "demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality and adverse to human health and happiness." His other qualifications to oversee 4,600 family-planning clinics include a study he co-authored claiming that sex with multiple partners makes it difficult to form relationships later in life. Other scientists have accused him of twisting their research and practicing pseudoscience to fit his personal beliefs.

Bush, who has also felt free to twist data and science to suit his desires, probably sympathizes with Keroack's efforts. But health advocates and congressional Democrats are livid. Last week, 14 senators signed a letter decrying Keroack's appointment and urging Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt to withdraw it. Twenty-five scientific and family-planning organizations followed with their own letter.
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