Bush makes controversial appointment of new head of family planning office

doi:10.1136/bmj.39377.465752.DB

BMJ 2007;335:844 (27 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.39377.465752.DB

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Bush makes controversial appointment of new head of family planning office

Janice Hopkins Tanne

New York

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In a controversial move President George Bush has appointedSusan Orr as acting deputy assistant secretary for populationaffairs, to head the Office of Population Affairs at the Departmentof Health and Human Services.

Dr Orr, who is not a physician but has a PhD, was widely criticisedin the US press because in a 2001 interview with the WashingtonPost she was quoted as saying that she supported a Bush proposalto stop requiring health plans for federal employees to covercontraception. She was quoted as saying, "We're quite pleased,because fertility is not a disease."

Dr Orr has served in the US health department for six years.She was working at the conservative Family Research Council—whoseslogan is "family, faith, and freedom"—when she made thecontroversial statement. The council says that she is not a"foe of contraception" but that she made the statement to makeit clear . . . [Full text of this article]

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