Because the email appears to be making a comeback this week — and because Kos fell for the same mistake — I thought I’d take a moment to talk about W. David Hager.
The email that many of you no doubt saw includes some pretty serious charges about Hager’s background.
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 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.
Sounds pretty scary, right? The problem this email is not an urban legend; it’s true except for one key part — Hager’s appointment to the FDA panel has already happened.
The gang at Snopes sets the record straight.
In December 2002, W. David Hager was one of eleven physicians appointed to the Food and Drug Administration’s Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs, a committee whose job it is to evaluate data and make recommendations on the safety and effectiveness of marketed and experimental drugs for use in obstetrics, gynecology, and related specialties. Dr. Hager is a part-time professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University Kentucky College of Medicine and a well-known specialist on gynecologic infections, and therefore at first blush his appointment to this committee would seem a good fit.
However, he is also vehemently pro-life and has vigorously played a part in the campaign to get the FDA to withdraw its approval of mifepristone (RU-486), a drug that terminates pregnancies. He is indeed the author of a number of books in which he’s advocated prayer and the reading of the Scriptures as cures for medical ills.
Dr. Hager makes no bones about his beliefs but says they won’t compromise his judgment: “Yes, I’m pro-life. But that’s not going to keep me from objectively evaluating medication. I believe there are some safety concerns (about mifepristone) and they should be evaluated.”
Contrary to the claim made in the now widely-circulated e-mail decrying his appointment, Dr. Hager says he does not deny birth-control prescriptions to unmarried women. However, Time magazine reported that “In his private practice, two sources familiar with it say, Hager refuses to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women.”
The appointment is a done deal, and Dr. Hager is now part of this committee (although, perhaps as a result of the controversy raised by this message, he was not appointed to chair the committee). Moreover, in June 2004, he was reappointed to the committee for a further year. Whether he can be objective remains to be seen.
I’d add two points to this. One, the email charges about Hager’s more outrageous ideas — Bible-reading as the appropriate treatment for PMS, for example — are also true. Two, Hager has already used his post to undermine Americans’ reproductive rights, including blocking “Plan B” emergency contraception pills from being sold over the counter.
The email, however, urged people to contact the White House to urge the administration to reject Hager. At this point, obviously, it’s too late; Hager is already in place. The only way to have keep Hager and zealots like him out of these government roles would be to vote against candidates like Bush. It’s too late for that too.