Firm on the Family: Bush Appoints Anti-Contraception Advocate to Top Position

His positions on Donald Rumsfeld, the war in Iraq, and fiscal conservatism aside, never let it be said that George W. Bush is not firm on the issues. On Monday, he appointed one Dr. Eric Keroack to head up the Title X program that provides reproductive health and assistance to millions of poor women. The appointment immediately drew fire from several professional associations and sparked a letter from Planned Parenthood , based on what, in Bush's view, qualifies Keroack for the position. The good doctor is the medical director of A Woman's Concern,  a network of pregnancy crisis centers in the Boston area. Under his enlightened regime, AWC does not distribute or encourage the use of contraceptive devices. And some of the information that Keroack promulgates is patently false, such as the contention that condoms ""offer virtually no protection" against herpes. He also claims that premarital sex interferes with oxytocin secretion, a hormone that he assumes to be physiologically important to successful marriages.

Despite the already shrill opposition, Bush will likely leave his appointee in place, and the choice is not subject to Congressional approval.This time, Bush will hold fast- against logic and empirical evidence, against women's rights, and against the will of the American majority..