Stop Bush's Ultra-Conservative Appointee to Health and Human Services
President Bush's new head of federal family-planning programs believes that birth control is "demeaning" to women.
Did you have to read that twice? So did we.
Late last week, after pledging to bring the country together after his electoral losses, President Bush appointed Eric Keroack to lead the Department of Health and Human Services' family-planning program which supports 4,600 clinics and more than five million people annually.
Keroack has dedicated his career to telling women that birth control and abortion are wrong. He most recently was the medical director for A Woman's Concern, which oversees six anti-choice "crisis pregnancy centers" in Massachusetts and maintains a policy stating "that the crass commercialization and distribution of birth control is demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality and adverse to human health and happiness."
Putting a doctor who opposes birth control in charge of a federal family-planning program is just plain irresponsible.
Help us keep Keroack from assuming this influential position. Send a message to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Mike Leavitt, urging him to reject Keroack's appointment today.
Dear Secretary Leavitt,
I am writing to express my grave concern over the appointment of Dr. Eric Keroack as the new Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs (DASPA).
As you know, the DASPA oversees Title X, the nation's family-planning program, which provides high-quality family planning and preventive health-care services to over five million low-income individuals annually, helping them to avoid approximately one million unintended pregnancies each year.
Dr. Keroack's public statements, writings, and professional associations demonstrate his opposition to contraception and nondirective health care. His positions are antithetical to the goals of the Title X program and could jeopardize the health of millions of American women.
[Your comment here]
I urge you to reconsider this appointment. American women deserve better.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Address]
