Just Google "Anti-Woman Wacko"

Below the Belt: A Biweekly Column by NOW President Kim Gandy

October 30, 2007

Bush might not have a way with the English language, but he's done a bangup job demonstrating the meaning of the word oxymoron, what with pro-polluter legislation called "Clear Skies," and a "Family Time Flexibility Act" that was really designed to eliminate the right to overtime pay.

So it should come as no surprise that the Bush administration's latest choice to oversee federal family planning services opposes birth control. Susan Orr, the new Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs (DASPA), hails from the Family Research Council (FRC), where she was Senior Director for Marriage and Family Care. The FRC, in case you don't know, is a rabid right-wing organization that opposes reproductive rights.

Orr applauded Bush's proposal to cut off birth control coverage for federal employees, and argued strenuously against local Washington, D.C. legislation to require employee health insurance to cover contraception. The Weekly Standard quoted Orr as saying: "It's not about choice. It's not about health care. It's about making everyone collaborators with the culture of death." I can't stress this enough - that quote is not about abortion; it's about contraception. Now she's in charge of it. At least for the moment.

The eruption over Orr has me reminiscing about Bush's other oxymoronic appointments -- particularly this administration's guardians of family planning and women's reproductive health.

First (as far as we know, anyway) there was Dr. W. David Hager. Remember him? We called him Doctor "Prayers for PMS."

George W. Bush appointed Hager to the Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) back in 2002. He was a member of the Physicians Resource Council, part of the radical right group Focus on the Family (whose founder, James Dobson, also started Family Research Council, the group Orr worked for). Hager had spoken out against emergency contraception, as well as the use of birth control pills and condoms outside of marriage. He wrote books and articles encouraging women to turn to prayer and scripture to help heal ailments such as premenstrual syndrome, postpartum depression and eating disorders, and news reports said that he refused to prescribe birth control for his unmarried patients.

Hager's appointment also represented a serious conflict of interest. At the time of his appointment, Hager was leading a campaign petitioning the FDA to revoke its approval and ban mifepristone (RU-486).

Despite outrage from groups like NOW and members of Congress, and an email campaign that refused to die, Hager took his seat on the FDA committee. Predictably, he voted against making emergency contraception available over-the-counter and petitioned FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford to ignore the committee's recommendation. Fortunately he was in the minority.

Wait a minute - is that THE Lester Crawford? Yes it is. The same Crawford who in fact did hold up over-the-counter approval of EC, while giving manufacturers the go-ahead that eventually put a new generation of risky, unproven silicone breast implants back on the market. Crawford turned out to be corrupt in ways that went beyond putting ideology above science, and he resigned after a short term in office. But who put him there in the first place? Well, Bush, of course.

What other narrow-minded men of medicine has the Bush administration promoted? Just last year, we were introduced to Dr. Eric Keroack, an abstinence-only fanatic appointed to the same position Orr is now in line for -- Deputy Assistant Secretary for Populations Affairs. In this job, Keroack would have overseen $283 million in family planning funds.

But Keroack had a long history of opposing birth control, supporting ineffective abstinence-only educational programs, and working against women's right to choose abortion. He was the medical director of A Woman's Concern, an anti-contraception, anti-abortion network of "pregnancy counseling" centers based in Boston.

His outrageous positions included the belief that "premarital sex is really modern germ warfare," and in a speech he made to the Annual Abstinence Leadership conference, AlterNet reported his claim that promiscuous women are unable to form lasting relationships because they've used up all their "bonding" hormones on casual sex.

Honestly, where does the administration find these people? Maybe that's one downside of the Internet, Bush can just Google "anti-woman wacko" and find his next appointment.

But thanks to the Internet, enraged activists were able to send thousands of emails to Keroack's boss at Health and Human Services and to members of Congress, and the doc was soon sent packing. Of course it helped that this guy was quite possibly rotten, too (he was facing Medicaid fraud charges when he resigned).

So, now we're faced with Orr, and public outcry is building yet again. Senators Hillary Clinton and Patty Murray, who faced down the FDA over Plan B, have sent a letter on behalf of 19 senators that reads in part: "The American people deserve a qualified public health expert who will ensure that the needs of women and families are met. In light of Dr. Orr's ideological record on Title X services, we urge you to withdraw her appointment and select an appointee who will actively implement Title X as intended by Congress under current law."

But why must we keep doing this? Well, one answer is obvious. As we've seen with virtually every issue, Bush is not a "uniter" -- he's going to keep appointing ideologues and playing to his base until he's out of office. To replace this nightmare of a president, nothing less than a full supporter of women's rights will do. And a Congress to back her (or him) up.

Make no mistake. Our opponents are after birth control and they're after comprehensive and accurate sex education.

And if they can't take away the reproductive rights of every woman outright, they will pick around the edges, and you know what that means. Poor women, women who can't afford insurance, young women -- anyone vulnerable enough to exploit will be affected.

Even candidates like Rudy Giuliani, who might seem pro-choice on a good day -- when push comes to shove, which side do you think he's going to come down on? The side of the oxymorons. I guarantee it.

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