The Bush administration has appointed ob-gyn Eric Keroack -- medical director for A Woman's Concern, a pregnancy-counseling organization -- as the new HHS deputy assistant secretary for population affairs, the Washington Post reports. According to the Post, many family-planning advocates were angered by the appointment, noting that A Women's Concern opposes contraception and supports sexual abstinence until marriage. Keroack will advise HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt on issues including reproductive health and adolescent pregnancy and will administer $283 million in annual family-planning grants that HHS says are "designed to provide access to contraceptive supplies and information to all who want and need them with priority given to low-income persons," the Post reports. Christina Pearson, spokesperson for HHS' Office of Population Affairs and Administration for Children & Families, on Thursday said Keroack will begin his appointment -- which does not require Senate confirmation -- in the next two weeks. HHS Assistant Secretary for Health John Agwunobi called Keroack a "highly qualified and a well-respected physician." According to the Post, A Women's Concern on its Web site says the "crass commercialization and distribution of birth control is demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality, and adverse to human health and happiness." Marilyn Keefe, interim president of the National Family Planning Reproductive Health Association, said that Keroack's work "seems to really be geared toward furthering anti-choice, anti-contraception policies." Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the appointment is "striking proof that the Bush administration remains dramatically out of step with the nation's priorities." Mark Conrad, president of A Woman's Concern, said that Keroack would be able to make the transition into a position where the provision of birth control is a primary component. "I don't think it's going to be an issue for him," Conrad said (Lee, Washington Post, 11/17). Keroack in an e-mail confirmed his appointment but declined further comment, the Boston Globe reports (Bender/Wirzbicki, Boston Globe, 11/17).