A month ago, in anticipation of assuming his new position, Keroack resigned as medical director of A Woman's Concern, his only employer of record. Somewhere in the intervening time, that now infamous quotation about the demeaning nature of birth control mysteriously seems to have disappeared from the AWC Web site.  

When those astonishing words are read within their full context, it's easy to see why Keroack might have thought their disappearance to be -- to evoke the first President Bush -- prudent at this juncture.

Policy on Contraception and "Emergency Contraception" [pdf link, all emphases in the original]

Consistent with its commitment to women's health and to every client's right of informed consent, A Woman's Concern maintains a clear operating policy regarding contraception and emergency contraception.
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A Woman's Concern is persuaded that human sexuality finds its healthiest expression and highest fulfillment within lifelong marriage between a man and a woman. Less than a half-century after the development of the oral contraceptive pill and widespread "loosening" of sexual mores, America has seen the devastating public health consequences of nonmarital sexual activity ...
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We recognize that the clients we serve may not share this wisdom or have lost sight of it. ... A Woman's Concern will pursue every opportunity to educate the sexually active client on the reasons why sexual purity is in her best interest.
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AWC staff and volunteers will not distribute brochures, books or other materials that advocate and promote the use of contraception.
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A Woman's Concern is persuaded that the crass commercialization and distribution of birth control is demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality, and adverse to human health and happiness. AWC also accepts evidence demonstrating that distribution of birth control, especially among adolescents, actually increases (rather than decreases) out-of-wedlock pregnancy and abortion.

Like many others on the Christian right, Dr. Eric Keroack believes in the pernicious influence of the "contraceptive mentality.

According to Keroack, even condoms are deceptively dangerous. In disagreement with legitimate medical organizations and with millions of everyday condom users, AWC says, "Condoms break or slip off 15.1% of the time and they provide little or no protection against HPV- the most common and communicable STD."  

That same Web page warns: "You can get pregnant using the pill, shot, condoms, or other forms of birth control. (1 in 100 women will get pregnant in the first year of using the birth control pill as directed. The average use of the pill results in 3 in 100 unintended pregnancies)." It fails to mention, of course, that the average woman's risk of pregnancy in one year without contraception is about 85% -- over 28 times greater than with even an imperfect use of the pill.

Why, one might ask, would a medical professional lend his name to such unethical deceptions? That's a good question -- and under the medical directorship of Eric Keroack, AWC has the answer.

"You may experience spiritual consequences: when you are living in a way that contradicts your belief system, you are living a lifestyle that is not true to yourself, and therefore can cause turmoil in your soul and block your relationship with God."

A woman who is living such a lifestyle is marked by her immodesty. [All emphases in the original]

The Consequences of Immodesty

1. Immodesty is distracting

2. Immodesty makes us worry more about how we look which can lead to many types of disorders, including, but not limited to, anorexia, bulimia, depression, and low self-worth.

3. Immodesty encourages men to become less honorable

4. Immodesty may lead to more pre-marital sex which in turn can lead to many problems including STD's, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, and emotional and spiritual consequences.

5. Immodesty leads to a blurring of right and wrong sexual behavior -- at what point do we draw the line?

6. Immodesty reduces women to a collection of body parts which cancels out their intellect, heart, and soul.

7. Immodesty is missing God's best for your life. "But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people." Ephesians 5:3 "Therefore Jesus said...The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10: 7,10

That's right; God doesn't like it, which is also the reason . . .

Why a Sexual Relationship Before Marriage Sets You Up for Trouble

Self-control
If you can maintain self-control in pre-marital relationships, you will be far better prepared to maintain self-control in your marriage. ... Studies actually show that those who wait for sex until marriage are more loyal and less likely to have an affair. In fact, 90% of married men remained true to their brides, while only 43% of cohabitating men stayed true to their partner.

Emotional bonds
Creating emotional bonds before you are in a committed, selfless relationship - marriage - can set you up for major heartbreak. Whether you experience a break up with the person you had an emotional bond with or whether years down the road memories keep coming up about that person because of your emotional bond, it hurts and confuses you. Better to steer clear of pre-marital deep emotional bonds.

More likely to have extra-marital affairs
Yep, it's true. Check out the above note on self-discipline.

STD's
If you are messing around with sex outside of marriage, you are putting yourself in danger of getting a sexually transmitted disease. The fact is ... we know that 1 in 2 people who are sexually active have an STD, some of which are not curable. Clearly, "safe sex" doesn't work, so be smart and protect yourself with sexual integrity instead by waiting until marriage to have sex.

Because God says so
God requires those who know Him to remain pure until marriage - no sex, in fact, not even a hint of sexual immorality. Marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman to reflect Christ and His bride, the church. ... Oh yea, and it was also set up so that you can have the best sex ever!

On ... Birth Control Pills

Contraception not only increases the likelihood of abortion, but clearly some methods ... also act as abortifacients. ... The abortifacient mechanism of the oral contraceptive pill has been questionned (sic) by some physicians. ...  [P]ackage inserts for Wyeth-Ayerst's "LoOvral" and Ortho Pharmaceutical's "Ortho-Tri-Cyclen" - both common forms of the Pill - explain that one of the three ways these drugs may work is by preventing implantation/nidation. In layman's terms: a newly conceived human being will be unable to take nourishment in his/her mother's womb and will die within just days of entering into existence.

Got that, ladies? Dr. Eric Keroack, now in charge of our country's family planning programs, says that taking birth control pills is the same thing as starving your baby to death. Contraception = abortion.

And as for Dr. Keroack's professional expertise regarding actual abortion, you can read it for yourself. As an information specialist in the field of abortion care, I was unable to find a single factual statement -- aside from the confession that anti-choice activist and Keroack's fellow CPC operator Carol Everett used to profit from abortion surgeries on women who weren't even pregnant -- but perhaps you'll have better luck. Since Keroack at one time allegedly performed a number of abortion procedures himself, his former abortion patients have my deepest, if retroactive, sympathy.

Missouri blogger Erich Veith has some musings highly pertinent to Keroack's appointment.

Nature (or if you prefer, "God") designed us so that half of the fertilized human eggs never implant (that's about 15,000 each day in the U.S.).  Further, more than 1,500 miscarriages occur every day in the U.S.  Despite this rampant loss of life, I suspect that you don't go around calling your God a baby killer.  I don't think the rule should be any different for a woman than for God.

Despite Keroack's dedication to the principle of total abstinence outside of marriage, and despite his adamant opposition to contraception, his former employer at A Woman's Concern says that Keroack will feel no moral conflict in heading the primary federal program for birth control.  And White House spokeswoman Dana Perino assures women that they have nothing to worry about: "You have to look at these things in isolation." Women might worry less if Perino hadn't added, "The president has said we will look to reach common ground where we can find it, however he's not going to compromise on his principles."

From Maine to California, women are holding onto the "immodest" hope that Dr. Eric Keroack is going to compromise on his own principles.

[Image from The Journal-American Online]

But when the Boston Globe editorializes that "to argue that abstinence is the only acceptable route to family planning divides the country, ignores reality, and condemns millions of women to poorer lives," one can't help wondering whether that hasn't been the plan all along.

[Condom image: Salon.com]

[Title poster by Austin Cline]