President Bush wants to appoint an anti-contraceptive doctor to oversee family planning

Family planning chief seen as political pick
President's choice from group opposed to contraception
- Christopher Lee, Washington Post
Friday, November 17, 2006

(11-17) 04:00 PST Washington -- The Bush administration has appointed a new chief of family planning programs at the Health and Human Services Department who worked at a Christian pregnancy-counseling organization that regards the distribution of contraceptives as "demeaning to women."
Eric Keroack, medical director for A Woman's Concern, a nonprofit group in Dorchester, Mass., will become deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in the next two weeks, department spokeswoman Christina Pearson said Thursday.
Keroack, an obstetrician-gynecologist, will advise Secretary Mike Leavitt on matters such as reproductive health and adolescent pregnancy. He will oversee $283 million in annual family planning grants that, according to the department, are "designed to provide access to contraceptive supplies and information to all who want and need them, with priority given to low-income persons."
The appointment, which does not require Senate confirmation, is the latest provocative personnel move by the White House since Democrats won control of Congress in this month's midterm elections. Last week, President Bush pushed the Senate to confirm John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations, and this week, he renominated six appellate court nominees who have previously been blocked by lawmakers.
The Keroack appointment angered many family planning advocates, who noted that A Woman's Concern supports sexual abstinence until marriage, opposes contraception and does not distribute information promoting birth control at its six pregnancy-service centers in Massachusetts.
"A Woman's Concern is persuaded that the crass commercialization and distribution of birth control is demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality and adverse to human health and happiness," the group's Web site says.
Keroack could not be reached for comment. John Agwunobi, assistant secretary for health, said Keroack "is highly qualified and a well-respected physician ... working primarily with women and girls in crisis."
A Woman's Concern President Mark Conrad said Keroack will be able to make the transition to leading a federal program in which the provision of birth control is an integral part.
The group helps women who have unplanned pregnancies but discourages abortions, Conrad said. He said the decision is a woman's to make, but said, "We do want to give her the opportunity to have all the information and the support necessary to choose life."
Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, called Keroack's appointment "striking proof that the Bush administration remains dramatically out of step with the nation's priorities."
The federal family planning program, created in 1970, supports a network of 4,600 clinics that provide information and counseling to 5 million people each year. Services include patient education and counseling, breast and pelvic exams, pregnancy diagnosis and counseling, and screenings for cervical cancer, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV.
Taken together, Keroack's appointment, the Bolton push and the judicial renominations suggest that while Bush may seek consensus with Democrats on selected issues of mutual interest, he does not plan to avoid decisions simply because lawmakers will disagree and may in fact seek out fights when he feels they may be useful politically to reach out to his conservative base.
"The president has said we will look to reach common ground where we can find it," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "However, he's not going to compromise on his principles."



The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201