Jesus and the FDA

[Dana Sheets]

Now this isn't going to be easy. Usually I'd put this in Panther's Den but I'm going to hold onto this one. And I'm not sure it's still current - the news is from Oct 2002 so hoprefully this died a quiet death - I'm still checking on that.


I'm not posting this to have an abortion debate and I'm not posting this to have a morning after pill debate. I'm posting this because separation of Church and State is very important and this appointment would fly in the face of that.

Pleas read:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article ... 21,00.html

"Hager refuses to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women. "

Then read:

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."

[CANDANeh]

Mixing religion and medicine is unacceptable

Mixing religion with anything is a mistake

separation of Church and State is very important

Its the only time I say "amen". Remove a religion and you loose another reason to start a conferentation. GOD I am certain understands.

[Jack]

An update for those who were interested in this: Hager did end up on the board, but not as the chair. That spot was taken by Linda Giudice MD/PhD, Stanford University Medical Center. You can get more information on the committee members and the committe itself here:

http://www.fdaadvisorycommittee.com/FDC ... efault.htm

[Dana Sheets]

Jack,

Welcome to the forums and thanks for posting this update.

Crockett is a board member of the Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists and co-authored a section entitled "Using Hormone Contraceptives Is a Decision Involving Science, Scripture, and Conscience" that appeared in a book edited by Hager and others. Crockett, however, has also argued that birth control pills should not be considered abortifacients, a claim that has been advanced by some anti-abortion physicians.

New committee member Stanford is one physician who advanced that argument in an 2000 article on "Postfertilization Effects of Oral Contraceptives and Their Relationship to Informed Consent." Stanford, a Mormon, has written extensively on "natural family planning" and opposes other forms of contraception.

Returning committee member Vivian Lewis, MD, University of Rochester Medical Center, also raised serious safety questions concerning RU-486 at previous committee meetings and suggested that the drug require further restrictions in distribution

http://www.fdaadvisorycommittee.com/FDC ... oChair.htm

Thank the Universe that he didn't end up the chair...though his being on the committee is enough of a nightmare. Medicine and religion....like water and magnesium...two things that are simply volotile when brough too close together.

Monday and Tuesday will be the first meeting of this committee in several many months. It will be interesting to read the minutes and to learn the tenor of their reccomendations.

I signed up for the newsletter on their activities from the link you gave....I wonder how many protest signs a person can carry at once?

Thanks again for the update!
Dana