NCJW welcomes family planning resignation

The National Council of Jewish Women welcomed the resignation of the Bush administration’s top family planning official. The Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday announced the resignation of Eric Keroack, its assistant secretary for population affairs, saying he was stepping down to attend to actions taken by state Medicaid officials in Massachusetts against his private medical practice. It did not detail the actions. Keroack’s appointment in November was controversial because he had helped lead organizations in Massachusetts that opposed birth control. Title X, the federal family planning program, “has a proven track record of providing scientifically based family-planning information and contraceptive technology to more than 5 million low-income women annually,” NCJW said in a statement. “We urge the administration to support that important mission by selecting someone with a demonstrated commitment to women’s health and full access to contraceptive technologies and information.”