New Head of Federal Family Planning Office Does Not Believe in Planning Families

Pres. Bush has appointed someone who opposes contraception to direct federal family planning programs -- AGAIN:

Susan Orr, most recently an associate commissioner in the Administration for Children and Families, was appointed Monday to be acting deputy assistant secretary for population affairs. She will oversee $283 million in annual grants to provide low-income families and others with contraceptive services, counseling and preventive screenings.

In a 2001 article in The Washington Post, Orr applauded a Bush proposal to stop requiring all health insurance plans for federal employees to cover a broad range of birth control. "We're quite pleased, because fertility is not a disease," said Orr, then an official with the Family Research Council.

Critics panned the appointment last year of Eric Keroack, a physician who worked at a Christian pregnancy-counseling organization that opposed the use of birth control. He resigned in March.

"Fertility is not a disease" -- that doesn't even make sense within Orr's own ideological framework. Are pregnant women who work for the government covered for prenatal care under their health insurance plans? Do they have to pay out of pocket for their hospital expenses when they go into labor? How about people who need regular visits to a dietition or a nutritionist for medical conditions such as diabetes or high cholesterol or blood pressure? Healthy eating is not a disease, right? Why should federal employees' health insurance plans cover the costs of dietitions and nutritionists?