NARAL Pro-Choice America Urges Senate to Call for Straight Answers from Surgeon General Nominee

Washington, D.C. – Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, called former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona's revelation that Bush administration officials censored him on issues related to contraception and abstinence-only programs yet another example of how a rigid political ideology is undermining Americans' access to objective, fact-based information.

Dr. Carmona, who served as surgeon general from 2002 to 2006, testified today before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, where he said, "Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried." His testimony comes as the Senate prepares to consider President Bush's nomination of Dr. James Holsinger to serve as the nation's top public-health official.

"Dr. Carmona deserves credit for further exposing how the Bush administration is using tax dollars to put a far-right political agenda before women's health," Keenan said. "Now that President Bush has a new nominee for the surgeon general's post, Americans expect that their senators will ask Dr. Holsinger whether he is prepared to withstand such political pressure from this administration. The surgeon general should not be a talking head for the president's political agenda."

Keenan said Dr. Carmona's comments underscore the Bush administration's long record of hostility toward sound science and medicine. Among many other actions, for three years, the Bush administration's political appointees interfered with the Food and Drug Administration's decision on the Plan B® emergency contraceptive, delaying the eventual approval of the back-up form of birth control for over-the-counter sale. Further, throughout Bush's tenure in the White House, his administration and anti-choice congressional allies have continuously increased funding for dangerous and ineffective abstinence-only programs.

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Ted Miller, 202.973.3032