No surprise here: The Bush administration is pigheadedly staying the course on the appointment of Eric Keroack as a deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services. Twenty-one Congress members have sent letters of complaint to HHS, and throngs of feminist organizations have raised holy hell over the appointment. Still, the Kaiser Network reports that HHS is staunchly defending the choice of an antiabortion, anti-contraception, abstinence-only zealot to oversee $283 million in family-planning funds.
Presumably in an effort to allay concerns about Keroack's record, a spokesperson explained that he made a practice of prescribing birth control in private medical practice -- even to sinning single gals -- despite his public anti-contraception tirades. I guess this is better than nothing, but it's tough to celebrate the news that the guy's a hypocrite. Also, since we last covered Keroack's appointment, it has been revealed that he technically is no longer an OB-GYN. A spokesperson explained that he "inadvertently missed the recertification deadline." Is it too much to hope that Keroack will inadvertently miss his first day -- and, say, every day thereafter -- of his new job?
In other news of unfortunate Bush appointments: Feministing reports that conservative Mary Beth Buchanan has been selected as acting director of the Office on Violence Against Women. Buchanan, a proponent of the Patriot Act and an antipornography activist, has been called "the vanguard of [former U.S. Attorney General John] Ashcroft's attempt to impose his morality on others."
Just two more reminders of how the Bush administration prioritizes women's rights. Happy Wednesday!
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