Sex, lies, and abortion: More theocratic quackery from the Bush White House

November 16, 2006

Guest Post by Michael J.W. Stickings

Jessica Valenti at Feministing is reporting today that the White House has appointed Dr. Eric Keroack Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs (DASPA) at the Department of Health and Human Services. Which could mean one of two things: more hackocracy or more theocracy.

Well, it’s the latter.

Keroack, “currently the medical director of a Massachusetts pregnancy crisis center,” is “a well-known anti-choicer” and “a major proponent of abstinence-only education”. The “crisis center” in question is actually a chain of centers in eastern Massachusetts called A Woman’s Concern, where Keroack, according to “moiv” at AlterNet, “spreads all the usual lies about abortion, and uses ultrasound scans as a tool to influence the decisions of women who might be considering abortion.”

And that’s not all. He’s “on the Medical Advisory Council for the notorious Leslee Unruh’s National Abstinence Clearinghouse“. “And this is the guy,” in Jessica’s words, “who is going to have control over hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding meant to provide access to contraception and reproductive health information — specifically to low income Americans.”

Yes, that’s right. The Office of Population Affairs that he is about to head includes the Office of Family Planning and the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs. Given his career background and theocratic leanings, it’s quite clear where his priorities will be: abstinence and (when that fails) absolutely no abortion.

(Pharyngula and Majikthise have more.)

This story won’t get the attention it deserves, but it illustrates the continuing influence of the religious right on the Bush White House. (Where are you now, David Kuo? Or is this just an attempt to win the doubters back?) And it shows just how dangerous even Bush’s allegedly lame-duck presidency can be.

Maybe he’ll be able to help HHS determine what “scientific accuracy” means (not!)

From Justin Rood at TPMMuckraker:

In a new report on publicly-funded abstinence programs, a government watchdog charged that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) allows programs to distribute inaccurate sex information to kids, and suggested the agency clean up its act.

But in its defense, HHS argued that it doesn’t know how to tell whether something is “scientifically accurate.”

According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), HHS last year spent $153 million on abstinence education programs.

Set aside the issue of whether they do any good. GAO tried to see if they did any harm, and concluded they did: Some of the abstinence programs are telling kids stuff that just isn’t true. The GAO cites one program which told kids that HIV can pass through latex condoms, because latex is porous. (That’s false.)

The GAO gave the reasonable-sounding recommendation to HHS that it ensure that all information given to kids through these programs should be scientifically accurate.

If only the world were so simple! In response, the Department of Health and Human Services — which has on staff more than a few scientists and other educated types — said the GAO’s suggestion was useless. “GAO never defines the term ‘scientific accuracy’ in its report,” HHS complained. “As such, it is difficult to precisely determine the criteria employed by GAO in making the recommendations as to scientific accuracy.”

  • Of course the MSM can’t be bothered with something as trivial as this. They’ve got to report on the color and cut of Nancy Pelosi’s power suit. Does this guy have to be approved by Congress to take this position? If so, will the Dems resist mightily? Or will the antichoice Dems side with the thugs and steamroll it through? Murtha?

    This appointment is right in line with other Bush/Rovian fuck you type appointments, not surprising after getting their asses handed to them in the midterms. I wonder which of those two is more contemptible? Makes one long for the days of the guillotine. Two heads would be better than one.

  • Copying another blog (yes I’m that lazy):

    This came from Daily Kos, it is Not Jack’s theory of why we form bonds and how too much nookie can turn you into a cold hearted sex zombie:

    [Keroack] explained that oxytocin is released during positive social interaction, massage, hugs, “trust” encounters, and sexual intercourse…” “People who have misused their sexual faculty and become bonded to multiple persons will diminish the power of oxytocin to maintain a permanent bond with an individual.”

    First of all, I think he unintentionally stumbled on the pick up line of the century: “Hey baby, wanna go misue our sexual faculties?” I move we use it, a lot. In the spirit of Dan Savage re-defining Santorum.

    Secondly, I get the feeling the good doctor is a miserable son of a bitch who has no friends, never goes out and wonders why his wife goes through so many D-cell batteries. (No wonder Bush picked him.) According to his “theory” hugging, trust (not thrust) encounters and hanging out and having fun all cause depletion of our majikal bonding juices. So to keep from becoming big ol’ whores we need to avoid physical contact with everyone, never trust anyone and above all NEVER have fun in a group setting. I suppose we should just sit in little cells until the minister brings our carefully selected mate. At which point we will be so desperate for any contact we’ll glady accept whatever comes through the door. Well, that would solve the abstinence problem.

    This is not bad science, it isn’t even wierd science. It just ain’t science. Yea verily the lunatics have taken over the asylum. Bring me several vials of Thorazine and a dart gun.
    Ach to hell with half-measures, were ist mein bazooka?

  • So much for “bipartisanship”–this is just a big “f— you” to his opponents, and the MSM should note it as such. Not holding our breath, though.

  • Ahhh the answer to the Mo Panel’s report linking abortion to illegal immigration.

    “Republican-led legislative panel says in a new report on illegal immigration that abortion is partly to blame because it is causing a shortage of American workers.”

    Less abortions and more crop pickers – YIKES! These people are scary and strange.

  • Re Tom Cleaver, @1:
    Apparently, “hunger” isn’t a scientifically acurate term, either. Another tidbit, from the same source:

    Some Americans Lack Food, But USDA Won’t Call Them “Hungry”
    “The U.S. government has vowed that Americans will never be hungry again. But they may experience ‘very low food security.’

    “Every year, the Agriculture Department issues a report that measures Americans’ access to food, and it has consistently used the word “hunger” to describe those who can least afford to put food on the table. But not this year.

    “Mark Nord, the lead author of the report, said ‘hungry’ is ‘not a scientifically accurate term for the specific phenomenon being measured in the food security survey.’ Nord, a USDA sociologist, said, ‘We don’t have a measure of that condition.'” (WaPo)

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