Email initiative opposing selectionof David Hager

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 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, 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. His views of reproductive health care are far outside the mainstream for reproductive technology. Dr. Hager is a practicing OB/GYN who describes himself as "pro-life" and refuses to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women. 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.

We are concerned that Dr. Hager's strong religious beliefs may color his assessment of technologies that are necessary to protect women's lives for 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 e 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. There is something you can do. Below is a statement to be sent to the White House, opposing the placement of Hager.

(1) Please copy and paste (DON'T forward) the entire email into a fresh email; then sign your name below. After you sign, SEND THIS TO EVERY PERSON YOU KNOW WHO IS CONCERNED ABOUT WOMEN'S RIGHTS.

(2) Every 10th person who signs the list (i.e., #10, #20, #30, etc.) - please forward the entire e-mail to president@whitehouse.gov

We oppose the appointment of Dr. W. David Hager to the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. Mixing religion and medicine is unacceptable in a policy-making position. Using the FDA to promote a political agenda is inappropriate and seriously threatens women's health. Members of this important panel should be appointed on the basis of science and medicine, rather than politics and religion.

Pernicious distortions

October 18, 2002

Controversies over Bush nominees are not new, but are spreading beyond the judiciary or Cabinet departments to more obscure posts in far-flung bureaucratic ports of call. The media report the impending appointment of Dr. W. David Hager, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Kentucky, to chair the Food and Drug Administration's advisory panel on women's health policy. Intentionally or negligently, some are trying to mislead the public about this nominee.

Time's Karen Tumulty, for example, wrote on Oct. 5 that Dr. Hager is "a scantily credentialed doctor." Though this kind of jab would normally appear as a quote from someone, she reports it herself as if it were a fact. Not surprisingly, she provides no standard, criterion or benchmark for determining whether someone's credentials are "scant." Even a brief look at Dr. Hager's resume would tell any reasonable person that his credentials are anything but scant.

Dr. Hager has been on the obstetrics and gynecology faculty at the University of Kentucky for nearly a quarter-century – first as a clinical instructor and, since 1991, a full professor. His past and present professional activities include serving as chairman the Council for Continuing Medical Education of the Kentucky Medical Association; president of the Kentucky Ob-Gyn Society, an affiliate of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; and a member of the Advisory Committee for Women's Services at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Advisory Commission on Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Cervical Cancer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Advisory Committee on Reproductive Health Drugs at the FDA.

Dr. Hager has authored or co-authored more than 40 articles on women's reproductive health issues in professional journals including the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Journal of Reproductive Medicine, the International Journal of Fertility, and the Journal of the American Medical Association. He has authored or co-authored more than a dozen book chapters and a half-dozen books.

Dr. Hager has received the Kentucky Medical Association's 1993 Educational Achievement Award and Modern Healthcare Magazine's 1994 Outstanding Physician in America Award; he was one of Good Housekeeping Magazine's "Best Doctors for Women" in 1997, one of Ladies Home Journal's Best Doctors for Women in 2002, and named one of "America's Top Obstetricians and Gynecologists" for 2002-03 by the Consumer's Research Council of America.

Those are just the highlights from a very long resume that anyone, including a reporter, can read for herself. The University of Kentucky responded strongly to the Time article, pointing out that Dr. Hager is "nationally recognized" and his published work has been "significant and respected by others in the field." Why would anyone, especially a journalist, call someone like this "scantily credentialed"?

It might be to deflect attention from the scandal plaguing the FDA, where ideology and politics have replaced research and sound science. Or, even more pernicious, it might be the same kind of attack on people of faith we have seen elsewhere. The Time article, for example, bore the snide title "Jesus and the FDA." Maureen Dowd took a similarly slanted swipe at religion in her New York Times column titled "Tribulation Worketh Patience" – words taken from Romans 5:3. They observe that, in addition to his traditional academic and clinical work, Dr. Hager has written about the impact of faith and prayer on health.

In this, too, he is in broad company. Journals such as the Annals of Pharmacotherapy, the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, the Journal of Gerontology and the Journal of the American Medical Association have recently published research and research surveys showing the role of religious faith in medical treatment is strong enough to use in making clinical recommendations.

University of Chicago clinical psychologist Dr. Alicia Matthews found in her study that spirituality is "very meaningful to people in terms of their overall adjustment and coping" with breast cancer diagnosis in treatment. A poll by the American Academy of Family Physicians found that 99 percent of physicians agree that religious beliefs can be a positive part of the healing process.

The sudden attack on Dr. Hager is perhaps the same kind of problem going on at the FDA, i.e., personal bias and politics getting in the way of sound judgment and decision-making. Perhaps he is the right person for the job after all.

Thomas L. Jipping, J.D., is a senior fellow in Legal Studies at Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization.

Oh we do! Fate has its own agenda!

Anyway, here is the full article that I posted the link to earlier. I HATE publications that FORCE you to register to get the story. Nosy bastards! Anyway, here it is! Posted on Thu, Oct. 24, 2002

Another administration snub

By Molly Ivins

Creators Syndicate

The latest in a long line of anti-woman decisions by the Bush administration is, for once, getting some attention -- in part because of the sheer cheapness of the move.

President Bush has decided not to send the $34 million approved by both houses of Congress for the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA).

The fund provides contraception, family planning and safe births, and works against the spread of HIV and against female genital mutilation in the poorest countries of the world. Thirty-four million dollars goes a long way in the parts of the world where more than 600,000 women die every year from pregnancy and childbirth, many of them children themselves.

Of course, our poor government is so broke that it can't afford to waste $34 million on women in poor countries. It has more important things to do, like spending $100 million on "promoting marriage."

Two women -- Jane Roberts, a retired teacher in California, and Lois Abraham, a lawyer in New Mexico -- have started a splendid symbolic protest, and it is spreading by e-mail, fax, newsletters and all kinds of women's groups. The organizers are looking for "34 million Friends of UNFPA" to send $1 each to the United Nations (FPA) at 220 E. 42nd St., New York, NY 10017.

Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, director of the UNFPA, said the $34 million U.S. contribution would have helped prevent 2 million unwanted pregnancies, 800,000 induced abortions, 4,700 maternal deaths and 77,000 infant and child deaths.

We don't have $34 million to save the lives of poor women, but Bush wants to spend $135 million on abstinence education, which doesn't work.

According to that fountain of misinformation, the Rev. Jerry Falwell: "This announcement angered school sex educators, who concentrate on teaching our nation's students that they should explore their sexuality and ignore the consequences. But Mr. Bush said government can teach children how to exhibit sexual control."

Actually, sex education is entirely about the consequences of "exploring sexuality," and it works. The Guttmacher Institute published a report last week showing that the abortion rate is down by 11 percent precisely because young people are getting more education about sex. One would think the anti-abortion forces would be grateful.

Instead, there is every indication that in addition to taking away a woman's right to choose whether to have an abortion, the Bush administration is going after contraception.

Bush now wants to make W. David Hager chairman of the Food and Drug Administration's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. Hager is an ob-gyn from Kentucky who wants the FDA to reverse its approval of RU-486, the "abortion pill."

Although Hager is the editor of a book that includes the essay "Using the Birth Control Pill is Ethically Unacceptable," he told Maureen Dowd of The New York Times that he does not agree with the essay.

Then why include it? He does not prescribe contraceptives for single women, does not do abortions, will not prescribe RU-486 and will not insert IUDs. Hager believes that headaches, PMS and eating disorders can be cured by reading Scripture. I do not want this man in charge of my health policy.

It took almost all of human history for the population of the globe to reach 1 billion people in 1800. It took only from 1987 to 1999 for world population to grow from 5 billion to 6 billion. At current rates, we will reach 13 billion by the middle of the 21st century. Ninety-five percent of this growth will be in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Studies estimate that by 2025, two out of every three people on Earth will live in water-stressed conditions. The stress on global resources is already apparent.

While we spend trillions of dollars on weapons, the military and homeland security, the real threats -- water scarcity, climate change and population growth -- advance unchecked.

Molly Ivins writes for Creators Syndicate. 5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.