Re-Appointment of Dr. David Hager To FDA Committee is Bad Medicine
Anti-Choice Ideologue Compromises FDA's Scientific Credibility
June 28, 2004
WASHINGTON, DC ? Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) today criticized the re-appointment of anti-choice hardliner Dr. David Hager to the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee.
"Dr. Hager's ideological agenda compromises the scientific integrity of the FDA," PPFA National Medical Committee Chairman and University of Wisconsin-Madison Associate Professor of Pediatrics Dr. Scott Spear said. "Americans rely on the FDA as a trusted and objective safeguard. President Bush has betrayed the public trust by installing a biased ideologue in a key scientific role. When science comes second, public health suffers."
Dr. Hager co-authored a book that recommends scriptural passages and prayers for problems like headaches and premenstrual syndrome, and he is widely known to be opposed to prescribing contraceptives for unmarried women. He also played a prominent role in the creation of a petition designed to pressure the FDA into rescinding its approval of mifepristone.
All of this was public record when President Bush appointed Dr. Hager to the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee in 2002. And his anti-choice record has only worsened since then. When a joint meeting of the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs and Nonprescription Drugs Committees voted overwhelmingly to recommend that Plan B? emergency contraception (EC) ? a safe, effective backup method of birth control ? be made available over the counter, Dr. Hager was one of the lone few who voted against the move. Extensive scientific data shows that Plan B EC meets FDA criteria for over-the-counter-status and that increased access to EC would reduce the need for abortion.
Dr. Hager's comments on the testimony presented to the FDA committees about EC reflected his misogynistic and anti-choice views: "What we heard today was frequently about individuals who did not want to take responsibility for their actions and wanted a medication to relieve those consequences." In fact, studies show that women use EC responsibly, and that they do not rely on it as a regular method of contraception.
Anti-Choice Ideologue Compromises FDA's Scientific Credibility
June 28, 2004
WASHINGTON, DC ? Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) today criticized the re-appointment of anti-choice hardliner Dr. David Hager to the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee.
"Dr. Hager's ideological agenda compromises the scientific integrity of the FDA," PPFA National Medical Committee Chairman and University of Wisconsin-Madison Associate Professor of Pediatrics Dr. Scott Spear said. "Americans rely on the FDA as a trusted and objective safeguard. President Bush has betrayed the public trust by installing a biased ideologue in a key scientific role. When science comes second, public health suffers."
Dr. Hager co-authored a book that recommends scriptural passages and prayers for problems like headaches and premenstrual syndrome, and he is widely known to be opposed to prescribing contraceptives for unmarried women. He also played a prominent role in the creation of a petition designed to pressure the FDA into rescinding its approval of mifepristone.
All of this was public record when President Bush appointed Dr. Hager to the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee in 2002. And his anti-choice record has only worsened since then. When a joint meeting of the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs and Nonprescription Drugs Committees voted overwhelmingly to recommend that Plan B? emergency contraception (EC) ? a safe, effective backup method of birth control ? be made available over the counter, Dr. Hager was one of the lone few who voted against the move. Extensive scientific data shows that Plan B EC meets FDA criteria for over-the-counter-status and that increased access to EC would reduce the need for abortion.
Dr. Hager's comments on the testimony presented to the FDA committees about EC reflected his misogynistic and anti-choice views: "What we heard today was frequently about individuals who did not want to take responsibility for their actions and wanted a medication to relieve those consequences." In fact, studies show that women use EC responsibly, and that they do not rely on it as a regular method of contraception.
