par for the course

Yesterday, Susan Orr became deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in the Dept. of Health and Human Services. So?, you might say. Well, this position is one which is responsible for the reproductive health programs--from the ineffective $30 million dollar abstinence-only "education" nonsense to funding contraception, STD testing and related counseling. Orr, of course, is adamantly anti-contraception:

In 2001, she was quoted in the Washington Post favoring a Bush administration plan to drop a requirement that health insurance plans for federal employees cover a broad range of birth control.

“We’re quite pleased because fertility is not a disease,” she said at the time. “It’s not a medical necessity that you have it.”

If that doesn't have you shaking your head and saying "oh for fuck's sake", Think Progress has more:

– At the 2001 Conservative Political Action Conference, Orr cheered Bush’s endorsement of Reagan’s “Mexico City Policy,” which required NGOs receiving federal funds to “neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations.” Orr said that it was proof Bush was pro-life “in his heart.”

– In a 2000 Weekly Standard article, Orr railed against requiring health insurance plans to cover contraceptives. “It’s not about choice,” said Orr. “It’s not about health care. It’s about making everyone collaborators with the culture of death.”

– Orr authored a paper in 2000 titled, “Real Women Stay Married.” In it she wrote that women should “think about focusing our eyes, not upon ourselves, but upon the families we form through marriage.”

Quite the peach, eh? Going back a bit further into her résumé, Orr worked for the Family Research Council as "the senior director for marriage and family". Yes, that FRC. The group that opposes federal money for contraception. The group that says contraception = abortion. Their ex-senior director is now in charge of overseeing the federal contraception funding. I would say un-fucking-believable, but really, it's quite believable as far as this administration goes.

If you were wondering, no, the position does not require senate confirmation.