If you care about Women's Health Issues please read this

If you think this is the WRONG move for Women in the US please take a minute and send the President an e-mail (address below) and e-mail any other elected official you want. Senator Clinton might be a good person to e-mail. This isn't about whether you are pro-life or pro-choice (NOT looking for that debate here) it is about women being given fair access to treatments. This guy doesn't believe in unmarried women being allowed to have access to birth control! Very scary.

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 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.

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 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 all women's health."

Re: If you care about Women's Health Issues please read this

Michele, thanks so much for posting this article. Knowledge is power. I didn't know any of this before reading your post!

Re: If you care about Women's Health Issues please read this

http://clinton.senate.gov/
This is to contact Senator Clinton also.

If you do a search on Dr. Hager and FDA lots of articles pop up. Women will be seriously impacted if we do nothing and allow this guy to control our health issues.

Re: If you care about Women's Health Issues please read this

This is very freightening! I don't understand how this position, which can have such a dramatic impact on women's lives, does not require congressional approval!

Birth control is only one issue, too. This guy could potentially impact fertility treatments, hormone therapy, and many other things related to our health.

It makes me think...if Dr. Hager makes it impossible for unmarried women to receive birth control, it's probable that health plan coverage of contraceptives could be affected...and that would effect ALL women, not just the unmarried ones. It's bad enough that some health plans already don't cover the cost of some contraceptives!

I've always believed in separation of church and state, and I TOTALLY want Uncle Sam to stay the heck out of my bedroom! I am sending my emails NOW...

Re: If you care about Women's Health Issues please read this

Yes, Claud...that's just it! We're not talking pro-life vs. pro-choice. The repercussions of Hager's appointment seem like they will hit ANY woman who seeks medical services!! This is scary

Re: If you care about Women's Health Issues please read this

just bumping so more girls can send e-mails and help save women's lives.

Re: If you care about Women's Health Issues please read this

This makes me so upset!! If reproduction was a mans issue, there would NEVER be ANY discussions about what is legal/illegal and all issues of reproduction would be for free!

We really must write those emails and let the government know that we will not stand for this!!!

Re: If you care about Women's Health Issues please read this

Michele, you should really post this on the BHB too....I sent emails to all the appropriate people expressing my views. Thank you for sharing this information with us