Why is HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt Blogging About Abortion?

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


I can’t decide which end of the latest abortion kerfuffle is more inappropriate:

The US Department of Health and Human Services’s ill-fated (I hope) attempt to redefine birth control as abortion,

OR,

the fact that HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt is blogging about it on my dime:

“I’m delighted to announce that with the help of Planned Parenthood, my blog—for the first time—received more visits than my teenage son’s MySpace page. Perhaps I’ll address the subject of physician conscience one more time.”

Tough call. Either way, I want my tax dollars back.

Read more about the Medical Right’s latest volley in the choice wars here, here, and here.

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate