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, 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. American women deserve no less.