Advocates Burn While Administration Fiddles on FDA Appointment

Reproductive rights advocates nationwide were alarmed in October by news reports that President Bush had selected Dr. W. David Hager to head up the Food and Drug Administration's (PDA) Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. Hager is a practicing obstetrician- gynecologist, and sources told Time magazine that in his private practice he does not prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women. He is also the author of a book suggesting that women who suffer from premenstrual syndrome seek help by reading the Bible and praying.

The FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee is responsible for offering expert scientific and medical advice to the agency on matters relating to drugs used in the practice of obstetrics, gynecology and related specialties. The committee's responsibilities include all contraceptive drugs and drugs used in performing medical abortion as well as drugs used for infertility treatments, hormone replacement therapy and labor and delivery.

Hager's track record of using his personal ideological beliefs to guide medical decision-making and recommendations calls into question his ability to chair this committee. For some women—such as those with certain types of diabetes and those undergoing treatment for cancer—pregnancy can be a life-threatening condition. The personal beliefs of one doctor should not be a barrier to any woman's access to safe and effective drugs that can promote her health and protect her life. The Network believes there is no place at the FDA for someone who, based on religious beliefs, would deny unmarried women access to technologies that are a part of mainstream medical care and to which all women have a legal right. To appoint such a person to an influential position at the agency responsible for regulating medical drugs is to deprive the FDA and the women who rely on it of the scientific and medical expertise they deserve.

The Network was the first organization to call for widespread public opposition to the appointment and to ask our members to take action against it. You responded in force, sending more than 5,000 e-mails to the White House asking President Bush not to put this important committee in Hager's hands. Other reproductive rights organizations also activated their members, sending many thousands of messages of opposition to the FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as to the White House.

As of this writing, public statements coming from the administration make it appear as if it has backed off the idea of making Hager chair of the committee, though it leaves open the possibility that he will be considered for that role. The administration has indicated he is still being considered for committee membership.