Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Please do it

I had a link for this but apparently i forgot to paste the URL and I can't find it anymore. So if you know whose blog this comes from, let me know and I apologise to the author in advance. Also, you can go here for pretty much the same info (That's where i got the email from)

"This is an email I received today from Virginia Evans, over at the U.S. Department of Justice. I am reproducing it verbatim:
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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 decisionson 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.
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.

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So what can you do? You should write – use snail mail and email (presidentATwhitehouse.gov) if you have the time – your member in the U.S. House of Representatives, your two Senators, and the White House to express your strong outrage regarding this proposed appointment. A sample text suggested by Ms. Evans is below.

I 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. American women deserve no less.

Please. Don’t let the bigots win on this one. "

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