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Friday, Nov 17, 2006 2:22 PM UTC

Bush family-planning pick: Marketing contraceptives demeans women

Who knew that an olive branch could have so many thorns?

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Topics: War Room,

Who knew that an olive branch could have so many thorns?

After pushing again for the confirmation of John Bolton and renominating objectionable judicial nominees, the president has taken another stab at bipartisanship, Bush style, by appointing a new chief of family-planning programs who believes that the sale and marketing of contraceptives is “demeaning to women.”

The chief family-planning job sits within the Department of Health and Human Services and doesn’t require Senate confirmation. That means that neither the Democrats nor anyone else can stop the president’s plan to have Eric Keroack on the job within the next couple of weeks.

As the Washington Post reports, Keroack will “oversee $283 million in annual family-planning grants that, according to HHS, are ‘designed to provide access to contraceptive supplies and information to all who want and need them with priority given to low-income persons.’”

Before getting the nod from the president, Keroack was the medical director for A Woman’s Concern, a group that argues that “the crass commercialization and distribution of birth control is demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality and adverse to human health and happiness.”

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog. More Tim Grieve.

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