Oppose Bush’s War on American Women

This has definitely been lost in the war news and I thought it worth knowing.
Whether you’re Right or Left on the issue of women’s reproductive rights, please consider the following…
President Bush has announced his plan to appoint Dr. W. David Hager to head up the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. 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.
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.
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 the medically inaccurate assertion that the common birth control pill is an abortifacient.
Hagar’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.
There is widespread concern 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. SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH 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 or call the White House at (202) 456-1111 or (202) 456-1414 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.”
While all of our attention is riveted on Bush’s global warmongering, we in the homeland are in danger of being defeated by this subversive effort.. TAKE ACTION AGAINST BUSH’S WAR ON AMERICAN WOMEN

8 thoughts on “Oppose Bush’s War on American Women

  1. Elaine-
    You rock. Thank you for posting this information. I work for a very female skewed company and can’t wait until Monday to encourage my co-workers to do their civil duty by contacting their legislators.

  2. For the record, Dr. Hager (and several other staunch pro-lifers) were already appointed to the board in December, 2002.
    I think Bush has proven that he doesn’t change his policies based on public opinion, so I would think that the best bet course of action is to keep checking for what that administration is up to and to make sure that the TV stations report on any time the committee goes too far.

  3. Are you people not slowly but surely, becomming really really afraid of the people that are ruling your country?
    Should you not stand up and start the fighting against this repressive, scary and so ridiculously dangerous administration.

  4. Although this man (and several others like him) have actually already been appointed…I was not aware of it until recently. I am disgusted by what I have read, and I DID email…what good it will do, I have no idea.
    I only hope we can vote him out of office and that the next administration can undo some of the damage this religious and inappropriate influence has had on our policies during the last four years.
    A. Graham
    Registered Voter

  5. For a continually updated (so sad that it’s necessary) chronology of the Bush Administration’s attacks on women’s rights–and to get completely outraged–
    go to: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/library/facts/030114_waronwomen.html
    MAKE SURE EVERY YOUNG PERSON YOU KNOW IS AWARE OF THE ISSUES IN THIS ELECTION! MAKE SURE EVERYONE YOU KNOW IS REGISTERED TO VOTE! MAKE SURE EVERYONE YOU KNOW GETS TO THE POLLS–OR VOTES BY ABSENTEE BALLOT–AND CHANGES OUR COUNTRY ON NOVEMBER 2, 2004!

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