Obama chooses abortion/contraception opposer for faith-based health post

Obama's poor choice for faith leader

Salon.com

President Barack Obama's appointment of Alexia Kelley, founder of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, as director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives took the pro-choice movement by surprise. On Thursday, the day that news of the appointment leaked out, Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center and a quintessential Washington insider, told me that she "hadn't heard anything about it till today, and we are trying to get to the bottom of it."

What Greenberger and others will want to know is why the post, which includes oversight of the department's faith-based grant-making in family planning, HIV and AIDS and in small-scale research into the effect of religion and spirituality on early sexual behavior, has gone to someone who both believes abortion should be illegal and opposes contraception. That's right -- Kelley's group of self-described progressive Catholics takes a position held by only a small minority, that the Catholic church is right to prohibit birth control. Were there no qualified religious experts who hold more mainstream views on family planning and abortion, views that are consistent with those of President Obama?

My hope is that the discussion of this thread will stay in the direction of discussing yet another one of Obama's hypocrisies and lies. I'm not trying to make this yet another thread debating whether or not abortion/contraception is okay.

I see this appointment as nothing more than a cruel joke. Obama just slapped all of the people who voted for him (thankfully I used my better judgment and didn't) in the face. More like he b**** slapped them!

How does someone who opposes abortion and ALSO opposed the use of contraception (which helps in the reduction of unwanted pregnancies, some resulting in abortion) get appointed to head a department responsible for funding family planning programs? Won't she undermine the intention of the program? I don't see a problem with her possibly giving more funding to programs whose aim is to provide alternative solutions to abortion, but I do foresee a problem in which she will underfund programs that provide contraceptive options to teens and couples who want to avoid getting pregnant altogether. According to the article, she is even against married couples using contraception.

What kind of message did Obama just send out to everyone?

Every single time I see Obama take a decisive action, he proves to me that he is not even remotely close to being the harbinger of change this country so desperately needs.

Obama being a wolf in sheep's clothing is a gross understatement.

This is the Catholics in Alliance website.

If the post requires that she uphold abortion and contraception it is against her faith. I don't know how she'll be able to be in the post. The rest of what the group stands for is fine. It's 'the dignity of all humans - born and preborn' belief that might make it impossible for her to do her job.

Are we sure the post requires somehow upholding abortion and contraception?? I don't know.

Wow, Obama is such a liar, I mean it just gets worse and worse every day! This man is in no way what he portrayed himself to be, he now has effectively back pedaled on EVERY issue that was important to me. I am thinking if he keeps this up even the Obamatons will have to take a second look at this man.

I think somebody should be getting ready to make a run for the office, Hillary anyone??? LOL I know now beyond a shadow of a doubt that it matters not one whit who is in that office....NEW BOSS SAME AS OLD BOSS, just this time he is a bigger liar!

Originally posted by FlyersFan
This is the Catholics in Alliance website.

If the post requires that she uphold abortion and contraception it is against her faith. I don't know how she'll be able to be in the post. The rest of what the group stands for is fine. It's 'the dignity of all humans - born and preborn' belief that might make it impossible for her to do her job.

Are we sure the post requires somehow upholding abortion and contraception??

I don't know.

I don't believe it's necessarily an issue of whether or not the post requires you uphold that abortion is okay and so is contraception. It's about the idea that the posts purpose is partly to allocate funding for programs that help in family planning, i.e. helping teens and couples to NOT have children if they don't want to but want an active sex life. This woman's beliefs go completely against that (either no sex at all, or have the child if you become pregnant after choosing to have sex) so how can anyone, ESPECIALLY Obama expect her to be "be fair" in her duties?

This is speculation, but I believe that her appointment essentially sabotages the purpose of the post and the department. I think I will look more into what all the post entails.