The full 25 have been chosen now, and The American Prospect reports that only two of them are pro-choice.
Faith-based failObama has made his final appointments to his controversial council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. In the FundamentaList today, Sarah Posner summarizes what it means for reproductive rights:
"With his council appointments now complete, Obama has given far more seats on his council to religious leaders who are anti-choice than to ones who are openly pro-choice, even though the majority of Americans favor legal abortion. There are only two pro-choicers, and they're both
Jewish. Reproductive-health advocates suggested several pro-choice Christians to the White House as worthy additions to the council. By not giving them seats, though, the administration shows that it is too afraid to challenge anti-choice evangelicals by putting their pro-choice brothers and sisters at the same table."
The author also points out that some of them wrote a letter asking to continue the terrible policy by Bush:
Frances Kissling also points out that the appointments aren't just predominantly anti-choice -- they're also mostly men. Five of the council members recently signed on to a letter asking Obama not to overturn the Bush administration's HHS policy allowing health care providers to deny services (such as contraception) based on their personal beliefs.
More from the
FundamentaList blog quoted above:
To promote the alleged "common ground" on "abortion reduction," Joshua DuBois, the director of President Barack Obama's Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (OFBNP), gave a rare interview to Newsweek last week. In it, he embraced the Come Let Us Reason Together mythology that the end of the "culture wars" is nigh, if only those old battle axes on the left and right would lay down their arms. DuBois maintained, "There's a culture-war industry on both sides . . . What's helpful to the president and to us is a lot of people are weary of that. People are looking for ways out."
With this cringe-worthy denigration of reproductive health advocates as just as extreme as abortion clinic harassers, DuBois signals a future of mealy-mouthed Democrats who are pro-choice in their hearts, though timid when it comes to campaign rhetoric and policy.
Obama, so far, has not exhibited cowardice on setting policy. But he is accommodating the "common grounders" by giving them priority seating on his OFBNP advisory council, and telling them they will help shape policy on "reducing the need for abortion." That's the administration's favored phrase over the clinical "abortion reduction," which sounds like an Orwellian government program.
With his Council appointments now complete, Obama has given far more seats on his Council to religious leaders who are anti-choice than to ones who are openly pro-choice, even though the majority of Americans favor legal abortion. There are only two pro-choicers, and they're both Jewish.
Here are some links to the White House website, illustrating how vital this Faith-Based council will be in setting policy.
Obama Announces White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood PartnershipsThe Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will focus on four key priorities, to be carried out by working closely with the President’s Cabinet Secretaries and each of the eleven agency offices for faith-based and neighborhood partnerships:
The Office’s top priority will be making community groups an integral part of our economic recovery and poverty a burden fewer have to bear when recovery is complete.
It will be one voice among several in the administration that will look at how we support women and children, address teenage pregnancy, and reduce the need for abortion.
The Office will strive to support fathers who stand by their families, which involves working to get young men off the streets and into well-paying jobs, and encouraging responsible fatherhood.
Finally, beyond American shores this Office will work with the National Security Council to foster interfaith dialogue with leaders and scholars around the world.
The words of the White House website express that the right to reproductive choice should remain.
The Women's AgendaReproductive Choice
Supports a Woman's Right to Choose: President Obama understands that abortion is a divisive issue, and respects those who disagree with him. However, he has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority in his Adminstration. He opposes any constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in that case.
Preventing Unintended Pregnancy: President Obama was an original co-sponsor of legislation to expand access to contraception, health information, and preventive services to help reduce unintended pregnancies. Introduced in January 2007, the Prevention First Act will increase funding for family planning and comprehensive sex education that teaches both abstinence and safe sex methods. The Act will also end insurance discrimination against contraception, improve awareness about emergency contraception, and provide compassionate assistance to rape victims.
I still find it hard to believe these views on choice will prevail. After all, in 2007 our Democratic congress voted to INCREASE the funding for abstinence only training in schools...though it had already been proved a failure.
Democrats Increase Funding for Discredited Abstinence-Only Policy"The Democratic leadership of the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Service, and Education (LHHS) Sub-Committee set science and commonsense aside by increasing the funding for discredited abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Despite a congressionally mandated report that found these programs do not work to help teens delay sexual initiation, House leadership allocated $141 million (an increase of $27.8 million) to continue feeding America's young people misinformation.
The author of the post at
The American Prospect had more to say at the end of the article.
He's stacking the council with anti-choice men (and failing to challenge screwed-up Bush-era policies) as a political gesture, but he isn't actually appeasing any right-wingers. So why bother? I know there are faith leaders out there who are serious about providing services to those in need, and who aren't anti-woman or anti-gay -- why didn't Obama make them the majority of his appointments? If he wanted to make a point about maintaining a dialogue with those he disagrees with, he still could have appointed one or two fundamentalists. But the conservative-dominated council as it stands now is pretty damn annoying, to say the least.
Only two on the
Faith-Based Council of 25 who support the rights of women to make their own health care choices.
It was either an oversight or it was deliberate. Either way is bad for women.