posted October 13, 2004 09:18 PM         

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. These positions do 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 Jesus healing women with case studies from Hager's practice. His views of reproductive health care are far outside the mainstream. 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 or to preserve and promote women's health.

Dr. Hager's track record of using religious beliefs to guide his medical decision-making makes him a dangerous and inappropriate candidate to serve. Critical drug public policy and research must not be held hostage by anti-abortion 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 letter to be sent to the White House, opposing the placement of Hager. Please copy the text of this email and paste it into a fresh email, then sign your name below and

SEND THIS TO EVERY PERSON YOU KNOW WHO IS CONCERNED ABOUT
WOMEN'S RIGHTS.

Every 25th person please forward e-mail to

president@whitehouse.gov

1. Susan Tannenbaum (Owings Mills,Maryland)
2. Susan Levine (Silver Spring,MD)
3. Audrey Funk (Henderson,NV)
4. Susan Lowe Shlisky (Las Vegas,NV)
5. Michelle Straub-Wilensky (Los Angeles,CA)
6. Patricia Phelan (San Francisco,CA)
7. Victoria Einhorn(san anselmo, ca)
8. Brad Einhorn (Brooklyn,NY)
9. Bethany MacMillan (Brooklyn,NY)
10. Amy Russell (Louisville,Kentucky)
11. Beverly D. Moore (Louisville,Kentucky)
12. Connie O. Byrne (Kannapolis,North Carolina)
13. Janet C. Haas (Charlotte,North Carolina)
14. Heather Vrana (Charlotte,NC)
15. Clare M. Evans (New port,VA)
16. Kathy Chadwick
17. Jim Chadwick
18. Claire Grimm Chadwick
19. Lindsay Addison (Naples,FL)
20. Peggy Addison (Naples,FL)
21. David Addison (Naples,FL)
22. Howard Schumsky (Orlando,FL)
23. Kristie Born (Orlando,FL)
24. Paul Boyd (Atlantic Highlands,NJ)
25. Lois Jensen (NYC, NY)
26. Catherine Rubenstein (Belvedere, CA)
27. Anne Rubenstein (Belvedere, CA)
28. Dirk Rubenstein (Belvedere, CA)
29. Barbara K. Westover (Oakland, CA)
30. Sharon Bjornson (Oakland, CA)
31. Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell (Philadelphia, PA)
32. Hana Elwell (Brooklyn, NY)
33. Jen Song (Brooklyn, NY)
34. Janet Lo (New York, NY)
35. Emily Horowitz (New York, NY)
36. Daniel Horowitz (New York, NY)
37. Josh Hyman (New York, NY)
38. Mona Goldsmith (Plainview, NY)
39. Kate Striano (Newtown, CT)
40. Elissa Gellis ( Newtown, CT)
41. Diane Thompson (Sandy Hook, CT)
42. LInda Parsloe (Sandy Hook, CT)
43. Judy Juracek (Darien, CT)
44. Deborah Meisels (City Island, NY)
45. P. Briggs Saroch (Greenfield, MA)
46. Diane Fisher-Katz (Northampton, MA)
47. Kirsten Cirincione (Florence, MA)
48. Jane Lynch (Florence, MA)
49. Kathleen Kennedy (Santa Barbara, CA)
50. Leslie Palmer (San Antonio, TX)
51. Julie Toland, Middletown, RI
52. Josie Merck,( Cos Cob, CT)
53. Elizabeth O'Neill (Boston, MA)
54. Joan O'Neill (Traverse City, MI)
55. Gerry and Margaret Gert (Napa, CA)
56. Elizabeth A. Sher (N.C.)
57. Barbara B. Steinfeld (Watchung, N.J.)
58. Joan Blitman (N. Bethesda, MD)
59. Mara S. White (VIenna, VA)
60. Stacey I. Heller (Vienna, VA)
61. Marvin Hurwitz (Baltimore, MD)
62. Barbara Hurwitz (Baltimore, MD)
63. Ruth Zlotowitz (Baltimore, MD)
64. Robert G. Goldstraw (Washington, DC)
65. Alicia Dinerstein (Commack, NY)
66. Joel Isaacson (San Jose, CA)
67. Pamela Poon (Bozeman, Montana)
68. Alice Kirkpatrick (Portland, ME)
69. Liz Colburn (Portland, ME)
70. Kym Dakin (Yarmouth, Me)
71. Rahti Gorfien (Brooklyn, NY)
72. Rita Ashdale (NY, NY)
73. Anne D'Aprix (NY,NY)
74. Ronnie Weil (Mineola, NY)
75. Lorna Bieber (NY)
76. Jane Dyson (RTP, NC)
77. Lyn Harwell (RTP,NC)
78. LA Renn (Chapel Hill, NC)
79. Trip Renn (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
80. Rowena Renn (Atlanta, GA)
81. Liz Turner (Richmond, VA)
82. Don Turner (Richmond, VA)
83. Nancy Harris (Richmond, VA)
84. Pat Naples (Northport, NY)
85. M. Hacker (Northport, NY)
86. Erin Crosby (Centreville, VA)
87. Gay Crosby (Cetreville, VA)
88. Carla King (Pulaski, VA)
89. Melissa Gobrecht (Blacksburg, VA)
90. Elizabeth Janka (Baltimore, MD)
91. Diana O Sparks (Baltimore, MD)
92. Chris Trotter (Baltimore, MD)
93. Erin Hilton (Baltimore, MD)
94. Nolen Strals (Baltimore, MD)
95. Ryan Brown (Brooklyn, NY)
96. Laurie Harden (Kirkwood, CA)
97. Jill Biros (Yardley, PA)
98. Sally Weintraub (Sarasota, FL)
99. Marcia D, Katz (University Park, FL)
100. Irwin H. Katz (University Park, FL)
101 Joan Rich (Cleveland,Ohio)
102 Judith Joseph (Northbrook, Illinois)
103 Camille De Frank (Chicago, IL)
104 Barbara Olinger (Chicago, IL)
105 Janet Brown (Chicago, IL)
106 Lynn Miller Socol (Glencoe, IL)
107 Mark W. Barrad (Haiku, HI)
108. Norman Fassler-Katz (Carmichael, CA)
109. Farla Kaufman (Sacramento, CA)
110. Neil Dubrovsky (Sacramento, CA)
115. Manny Halpern (new York, NY)
116. Paul Bernstein(New York)
117. James P. Hughes (Brooklyn, NY)
118. Andrea J.S. Sayago (Brooklyn, NY)
119. Catherine Bettis (San Francisco, Ca)
120. Melissa Cory (Boise, ID)
121. Levi Cecil (Portland, OR)
122. Sean Kelly (Seattle, WA)
123. Jessica Espeleta (Los Angeles, CA)
124. Catherine Brooks (San Francisco, CA)
125. Jeffrey Brooks (Tucson, AZ)
126. Pat Eisenberg (Tucson, AZ)
127. Elaine McCrate (Underhill, VT)
128. Doug Hoffer (Burlington, VT)
129. Barbara Grimes (Burlington, VT)
130. Kathy Beyer (Hinesburg, VT)
131. Jan Kittay (Scarsdae, NY)
132. Marc Zeitschik (Bronxville, NY)
133. Jane Umanoff (New York, NY)
134 Patricia Zorn [New York]
135 Bruce W. Patterson (New York, NY)
136 Michael Shernoff, LCSW
137 Steve Buckingham (Los Angeles)
138. Lily Tomlin (Studio City, CA)
139. Jane Wagner (Studio City, CA)
140. Jonathan Tunick (NY, NY)

141. Kamala Fritzler (Los Angeles, CA)

142. Robin Fritzler (Denton, TX)

143. Leslie Crane (Fort Worth, Texas)
144. Liz Zanovich (Tulsa, OK)
145. Michelle Hines (Tulsa, OK)
146. Erin Howell (Phoenix, AZ)
147. Kimberly Sauve (Clayton, CA)
148. Denise Sauve (Clayton, CA)

posted October 14, 2004 11:09 AM         

I heard those rumors in 2000 too. I think it will take a helluva lot more than his "want to" to overturn it.

Can you imagine how the people would react? Talk about rioting...

Personally, I would fly to Washington DC to protest right in front of The White House. I'm quite sure I wouldn't be alone.

Bush would have more than his (hard ) work cut out for him if he attempted something like this. David Hager and John Ashcroft are one thing ... Over turning RvW is not going to be easy for him.