New Federal Family Planning Director Opposes Contraception & Abortion

Parent Cafe
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<p>"WASHINGTON (AP) – The Bush administration, to the consternation of its critics, has picked the medical director of an organization that opposes premarital sex, contraception and abortion to lead the office that oversees federally funded teen pregnancy, family planning and abstinence programs.</p>

<p>The appointment of Eric Keroack, a Marblehead, Massachusetts, obstetrician and gynecologist, to oversee the federal Office of Population Affairs and its $283 million annual budget has angered family-planning advocates.</p>

<p>Keroack currently is medical director of A Woman’s Concern, a Christian nonprofit. The Dorchester, Massachusetts-based organization runs six centers in the state that offer free pregnancy testing, ultrasounds and counseling. </p>

<p>It also works to “help women escape the temptation and violence of abortion,” according to its statement of faith. And it opposes contraception, saying its use increases out-of-wedlock pregnancy and abortion rates.</p>

<p>“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,” its contraception policy reads in part…"</p>

<p>Unfortunately, no Senate confirmation is required.
<a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/17/family.planning.ap/index.html[/url]”>http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/17/family.planning.ap/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>SOOOO scary, wow
This guy is bizarre, to not want birth control???</p>

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<p>I thought you guys in Mass were supposed to be Liberals!
I feel like we just got pushed back 50 years :(</p>

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<p>Ahhhh, Bushie, you’re doin’ a great job.</p>

<p>I just hope like hell that he stays the course for two more years until we get to the next election cycle.</p>

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<p>He thinks that contraception is demeaning to women, because if they use it then they are “sl&uts”…yeppers…</p>

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<p>Yikes.
Probably one of the more frightening appointments of GWB.</p>

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<p>Does Bush think his girls aren’t having sex?
I mean seriously.</p>

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<p>My favorite statement of his is that having sex causes women to lose oxytocin, which will prohibit them from forming a bond with their sexual partner. I’m not certain that’s a good argument for a man who thinks women should get married before they have sex - heck, why get married if you are doomed to a life of detachment due to oxytocin loss? Might as well have a good time when you can, where you can, and with whom you can!</p>

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<p>Rich kids have always been able to find a safe abortion someplace. It’s the poor and middle class women they are trying to enslave.</p>

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<p>That’s so stupid. Anti-abortion is totally understandable but anti-contraception is just a completely dumb thing to espouse as a government official</p>

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<p>Gw just has to get all his "favors " done before Jan. It’s just another political payback for those who underwrite his power.</p>

<p>The guy will get his two years, draw a pension the rest of us would dream about for such little service.</p>

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<p>As Dan Savage puts it, you don’t have to be concerned about gay rights to fear this administration. STRAIGHT rights are under attack.</p>

<p>This is not about giving condoms to 12-year-olds in public schools. This is about married couples, too. This guy and his cronies are the barefoot-and-pregnant crowd.</p>

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<p>Oh yeah…contraception INCREASES risk of pregnancy…</p>

<p>Could have fooled me, contraception MAY increase risk of having sex, but last I checked it DECREASES risk of pregnancy.</p>

<p>One of my worst fears is our society going back to the age where lost women resorted to self-inflicted abortions by coat hangers (with many of them either dying or becoming permanently infertile).</p>

<p>Sex education is our friend people! How are kids going to know what to use and what to ask when they do get married and have sex???</p>

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<p>if you want to really see W’s lameduck 'gems" look at some of the judges…egad</p>

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<p><a href=“http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Unmarried_Births.html[/url]”>http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Unmarried_Births.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>whaT is it Mini says?
Stay the course?</p>

<p>The U.S. teen birth rate is still the highest among industrialized countries.</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.brook.edu/comm/policybriefs/pb05.htm[/url]”>http://www.brook.edu/comm/policybriefs/pb05.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>A little dated, but interesting analysis of US out-of-wedlock birthrates. They attribute much of the rise in out-of-wedlock births between 1970 and 1990 to the decline in shotgun marriages, once the norm.</p>

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Wow, I just looked this up, and it’s ridiculous. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.alternet.org/rights/44411/[/url]”>http://www.alternet.org/rights/44411/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

…what he fails to mention is that, even in couples with a perfectly happy relationship, oxytocin levels typically drop quite a bit after about a year and a half. After that amount of time, the hormones desert you and you’re on your own. :rolleyes:</p>

<p>I really resent the use of shaky social biology here.</p>

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<p>Sort of like a Defense Secretary who’s a bit squeamish about guns or an Agriculturial Secretary who won’t eat his vegetables.</p>

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<p>To put someone who is against birth control in charge of desseminating information and access to appropriate methods of family planning and safe sex safeguards is an outrage and perpetuates a cycle that keeps women in poverty by limiting their education and options. Send letters or emails to protest. Here are some links to organizations involved in a protest against this appointment.</p>

<p>NARAL: <a href=“http://prochoiceaction.org/campaign/hhs_famplannom_1106?rk=J7LyE7M1QYX7E[/url]”>http://prochoiceaction.org/campaign/hhs_famplannom_1106?rk=J7LyE7M1QYX7E&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.now.org/lists/now-action-list/msg00272.html[/url]”>http://www.now.org/lists/now-action-list/msg00272.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>“what he fails to mention is that, even in couples with a perfectly happy relationship, oxytocin levels typically drop quite a bit after about a year and a half. After that amount of time, the hormones desert you and you’re on your own”</p>

<p>And the hidden message is " Oh my god, please oh please don’t compare me to anyone else! If you had previous partners you might realize I’m terrible at this!"</p>

<p>I couldn’t agree more with you. This is a crock.</p>