Fuck fuck FUCK

[zana16]

More political stuff: this one really pissed me off. Bush has decided to appoint someone who does not approve of birth control to the chair of the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee, and this doesn't require Congressional approval.


gacked from feminist
first william pryor, now this. it's frightening, really.

President Bush has announced his plan to select Dr. W. David Hager to head
up the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Reproductive Health Drugs
Advisory Committee. The committee has not met for more than two years,
during which time its charter has lapsed. As a result, the Bush
Administration is tasked with filling all eleven positions with new members.
This position does not require Congressional approval. The FDA's
Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee makes crucial decisions on
matters relating to drugs used in the practice of obstetrics, gynecology and
related specialties, including hormone therapy, contraception, treatment for
infertility, and medical alternatives to surgical procedures for
sterilization and pregnancy
termination.

Dr. Hager's views of reproductive health care are far outside the mainstream
of setback for reproductive technology. Dr. Hager is a
practicing OB/GYN who describes himself as "pro-life" and refuses to
prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women. Hager is the author of "As
Jesus Cared for Women: Restoring Women Then and Now." The book blends
biblical accounts of Christ healing women with case studies from Hager's
practice. In the book Dr. Hager wrote with his wife, entitled "Stress and
the Woman's Body," he suggests that women who suffer from premenstrual
syndrome should seek help from reading the bible and praying.

As an editor and contributing author of "The Reproduction Revolution: A
Christian Appraisal of Sexuality Reproductive Technologies and the Family,"
Dr. Hager appears to have endorsed medically inaccurate assertion that the
common birth control pill is an abortifacient. Hager's mission is
religiously motivated. He has an ardent interest in revoking approval for
mifepristone (formerly known as RU-486) as a safe and early form of medical
abortion. Hagar recently assisted the Christian Medical Association in a
"citizen's petition" which calls upon the FDA to revoke its approval of
mifepristone in the name of women's health. Hager's
desire to overturn mifepristone's approval on religious grounds rather than
scientific merit would halt the development of mifepristone as a treatment
for numerous medical conditions disproportionately affecting women,
including breast
cancer, uterine cancer, uterine fibroid tumors, psychotic depression,
bipolar depression and Cushing's syndrome.

Women rely on the FDA to ensure their access to safe and Effective drugs for
reproductive health care including products that prevent pregnancy. For some
women, such as those with certain types of diabetes and those undergoing
treatment for cancer pregnancy can be a life-threatening condition. We are
concerned that Dr. Hager's strong religious beliefs may color his assessment
of technologies that are necessary to protect women's lives or to preserve
and promote women's health. Hager's track record of using religious beliefs
to guide his medical decision-making makes him a dangerous and inappropriate
candidate to serve as chair of this committee. Critical drug public policy
and research must not be held hostage by antiabortion politics. Members of
this important panel should be appointed on the basis of science and
medicine, rather than politics and religion. American women deserve no less.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

1. SEND THIS TO EVERY PERSON WHO IS CONCERNED ABOUT WOMEN'S RIGHTS.

2. OPPOSE THE PLACEMENT OF THIS MAN BY CONTACTING THE WHITE HOUSE AND TELL
THEM HE IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE ON ANY LEVEL.

Please email President Bush at president@whitehouse.gov and say "I oppose
the appointment of Dr. Hager to the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory
Committee. Mixing religion and medicine is unacceptable. Using the FDA to
promote a political agenda is inappropriate and seriously threatens women's
health."

Thanks

Comments

[strchsr.livejournal.com]

thanks for the info. i hadn't heard about that one. i emailed bush (something that i've done several times since he moved into the white house) & emailed the info to everyone i know who would care.

[zana16.livejournal.com]

Thanks!