Contraception in the Crosshairs, Paying off the Religious Right

[AnnInLa]

Paying off the Religious Right
by kos
Wed Nov 10th, 2004 at 11:33:07 PST

This is the sort of under-the-radar appointment Bush can use to pay off his most loyal supporters.
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 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. 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.
This dovetails nicely with something Atrios wrote this morning:
I get a lot of earnest pro-lifeish Democrats emailing me with things like this, looking for some sort of "compromise." Look, if you have a problem with abortion and want to find ways to reduce them rather than outlaw them, come on board. I for one don't much care about reducing abortions as a policy goal in and of itself, but I do care about reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies. And, as long as the pro-life right is also battling contraceptive availability, fighting against OTC access to the "morning after" pill, which really isn't an abortaficient (or, to the extent than it is, should be much less offensive than the consequences of IVF procedures), fighting for laws allowing pharmacists to refuse to prescribe the pill (which is also prescribed for legitimate medical reasons other than to stop pregnancy), destroying sex education, and supporting economic policies which increase poverty, then it seems like supporting Democrats are the way to go.
The GOP has launched a wide-ranging war against reproductive freedom that ranges far beyond just abortion. Contraceptives are just as much in the crosshairs as abortion. And the more light we can shed on these efforts, the better we can fight them.

more at www.dailykos.com

[Beaverhausen]

1. this is old - Hagar has been appointed twice already

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/hager.htm

[cornermouse]

2. It won't do any good.

They have their beliefs and a "mandate" and that is exactly what the rest of us are going to have forced upon us.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. kick

[Djinn]

4. when "dr" hager

suffers black outs because of 14 day periods when he's 13 years old and finds "jesus" as an appropriate treatment then I might listen to him -until then he can, like every other religious nut, fuck off.

How can you be a doctor while claiming that the birth control pill is an abortifacient, it's not like it's matetr of opinion it's a fact - or do these mental cases claim you're killing babies each time you have a period or every time a bloke has a wank?