MA Governor Deval Patrick Stands-Up to the Religious Right

[babylonsister]

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2007/4/24/23598/5602

MA Governor Deval Patrick Stands-Up to the Religious Right
By Frederick Clarkson Tue Apr 24, 2007

The Boston Globe reports that the new Democratic Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, is rejecting federal grant money to pay for "abstinence only" education in the public schools. The money was previously funneled by then-GOP governor Mitt Romney to a project of the anti-abortion group, A Woman's Concern -- whose medical director the controversial Dr. Eric Keroack; recently resigned from the Bush adminstration under a cloud.

Although many polititians have feared standing-up to the religious right's abstinence only tide, Massachusetts joins eight states have refused the restrictive federal grant money -- and a dozen others considering it -- rather than teach unscientfic, bogus and counterproductive approaches to sexuality. A Woman's Concern is the chain of antiabortion "crisis pregnancy centers" that employed Dr. Eric Keroack, whose crackpot medical views were controversial at the time of his appointment to a federal family planning post, from which he recently resigned, apparently due to investigations by state Medicaid officials. Moiv has written here at Talk to Action about Keroack's professional and political life here, here and here.

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