Eric Keroack

Dr. Eric J. Keroack is an American obstetrician-gynecologist.^[1]

In late 2006, he was named as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, the office that oversees federally funded teenage pregnancy, family planning, and abstinence programs, using its $283 million annual budget.^[2]

The nomination of Keroack, an anti-contraceptive advocate, to a position responsible for ensuring low-income women get access to birth control has been criticized.^[3][4][5][6]

The Massachusetts native has faced criticism before, after making the claim that sex with multiple partners hurts women's ability to bond by altering their brain chemistry.^[7] He claims that premarital sex suppresses the hormone oxytocin, thereby impairing one's ability to forge a successful long-term relationship.^[8]

Before assuming his position with HHS on November 20, 2006, Keroack was the medical director of A Woman's Concern, a Christian nonprofit organization based in Dorchester, Massachusetts. It runs six centers in the state that offer free pregnancy testing, ultrasounds and counseling and works to "help women escape the temptation and violence of abortion." Its crisis pregnancy centers oppose contraception and do not distribute information concerning birth control.^[2]

In January 2007, Keroack received "two formal warnings from the Massachusetts board of medicine ordering him to refrain from prescribing drugs to people who are not his patients and from providing mental health counseling without proper training."^[9]

On March 29, 2007 Keroack resigned his position at HHS.^[10]

References

1. ^ Health Grades, doctor profile for Dr. Eric Keroack
2. ^ ^{a b} "Contraception, abortion foe to head family-planning office". Associated Press. November 17, 2006. Archived from the original on November 20, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20061120021835/http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/17/family.planning.ap/index.html. Retrieved 2006-11-22. 
3. ^ "Bush's Latest Appointment". The Huffington Post. November 17, 2006. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/11/17/bushs-latest-appointment_n_34349.html. 
4. ^ "The Family Un-Planner". slate.com. November 21, 2006. http://www.slate.com/id/2154249/. 
5. ^ "A bad choice for families". San Francisco Chronicle. November 24, 2006. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/24/EDG0ELJ4EV1.DTL&hw=Keroack&sn=001&sc=1000. Retrieved 2006-11-24. 
6. ^ "Sack that Quack Keroack: Reproductive Rights Community Steps up Fight to Oust Anti-Abortion Appointee". The Indypendent. January 10, 2007. http://www.indypendent.org/?p=718. 
7. ^ "Too much sex? Controversy surrounds Bush appointee". SooToday.com. November 20, 2006. http://www.sootoday.com/content/news/full_story.asp?StoryNumber=20991. 
8. ^ Stacy Schiff (January 20, 2007). "Sex and the Single-Minded". The New York Times. http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/20/opinion/20schiff.html?th&emc=th. Retrieved 2007-01-21. 
9. ^ Andrea Estes (2007-04-07). "Doctor who quit US post was warned by state Medical board cited prescriptions". Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/07/doctor_who_quit_us_post_was_warned_by_state/. 
10. ^ The Associated Press (2007-03-29]). "U.S. family planning head resigns after state agency acts against him". International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/29/america/NA-GEN-US-Family-Planning-Resignation.php. Retrieved 2007-03-29. 

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Name	Keroack, Eric
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Date of birth	1960
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