RU-486 or RU-4Jesus

This country is heading into a Christian version of a Muslim state and frankly this scares me. The born-again conservative Christians have a lot in common with extremist Muslims, both think their way is the only way and they want to destroy women's rights using their Holy Scripture to do so.

I have always thought that anyone who completed medical school would be intelligent and informed but Dr. W. David Hager, an evangelical christian, a professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Kentucky who may become the chairman of the FDA's panel on women's health policies proves one can be educated and an idiot as his resume is more geared towards Theology than Gynecology.

An FDA senior associate with Bush family ties has rejected several other qualified physicians recommended by staffers and is pushing hard for Dr Hager to fill that position.

Let me give you a little insight into why Dr. Hager is a dangerous choice for those of us who want to preserve women's rights.

Dr. Hager recommends treating headaches and PMS symptoms through reading the Scriptures and prayer.

Last year he played an important role in Christian Medical Association's petition calling for the FDA to reverse its decision on the abortion pill known as RU-486 by claiming it at risk. I fail to understand how the abortion pill could be more risky than say 9 months of pregnancy and giving birth. There was a time where 1 in 4 women died in childbirth due to hemorrhage or infection.

If chosen as the Chairman, he will be leading the study of hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women. Many conservatives with a hidden agenda of getting rid of birth control pills want to start by discrediting the use of hormone replacement therapy women.

Some of the theological statements written by Dr Hager in reference to women's health are downright disturbing. He is like Oral Roberts with a medical degree. Here are a few examples;

"Jesus stood up for women at a time when women were second-class citizens," Dr. Hager says. "I often say, if you are liberated,
a woman's libber, you can thank Jesus for that."

In a book he wrote called "Stress and the Woman's Body," which puts "an emphasis on the restorative power of Jesus Christ in one's life" and recommends Scripture readings to treat headaches (Matthew 13:44-46); eating disorders (Corinthians II, 10:2-5) and premenstrual syndrome (Romans 5:1-11, "Tribulation worketh patience.")

More disturbing is his advice to keep from having an extra-marital affair. He writes... "Picture Jesus coming into the room. He walks over to you and folds
you gently into his arms. He tousles your hair and kisses you gently on the cheek. . . . Let this love begin to heal you from the
inside out."

I am not a Christian but the above comments sound like a perverted heresy!
I am suppose to have sexual fantasies about Jesus to avoid cheating on my husband...huh? That is GROSS!

Dr. Hager has stated that using the Birth Control pill is unethical.
He tries not to prescribe birth control pills for single women and advises them to abstain from sex.

He says he does not do abortions, will not prescribe RU-486 and will not insert IUD's. "I am pro-life," he says. "I believe sex
outside of marriage is a sin. But I am not against medication. The fact that I'm a person of faith does not deter me from also being a person of science."

Dr Hager has written that its dangerous to separate one's christian values from other areas of secular life. This means he will try to push his conservative Christian agenda on the women of this country if awarded the powerful position of Chairman of the FDA's panel on Women's Health Policy.

Dr. Hager's use of his religious beliefs to guide his medical decisions make him a dangerous choice for this powerful Chairman position. Its time for the rest of us to take back our country from the Immoral Minority who will have women living as those living in Muslim countries if given the chance.

To appoint someone who derives medical decisions on religion rather than science who is in a position to influence the regulation of medical drugs is not only a fine example of failure to separate church and state but it also denies women health care based on scientific fact and the medical knowledge which we deserve.


The National Women's Health Network urges you to email President Bush at president@whitehouse.gov or call the White House at 202-456-1111 to say that you oppose the appointment of Dr. Hager to the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee and ask the president to select a committee chair with a track record of making medical decisions based on science instead of religion.



Veronica Franco