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POINT Look out Einstein, Here Comes the Preacher By SYDNEY TOWNSEND 03.02.04 1:06AM CST As women celebrate the 31st year of having the right to reproductive choice, it is also time for all of us to start getting nervous - really nervous. The Bush administration is campaigning against women's reproductive rights in the scariest way possible: by replacing science with ideology. It is no secret that President Bush has close ties to Christian conservative groups, but Americans may not know the lengths to which he and his cronies are going, not only to appease these groups, but to force their values on the American public. During his tenure, President Bush has filled the federal medical and scientific boards with anti-condom, anti-contraceptive, anti-choice extremists. Let's look at a few of the particularly glaring examples of this policy. Bush appointed Thomas Coburn as co-chair of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. This anti-condom ex-congressman promised to "challenge the national focus on condom use to prevent the spread of HIV." On the same committee Bush placed Dr. Joseph McIlhaney, founder of the Medical Institute for Sexual Health which has historically not only opposed condom usage, but spread inaccurate information about condom effectiveness. You would think that Bush would have been a little more careful about that appointment, considering that during Bush's time as the Governor of Texas, the Texas Commissioner of Health had doubts about Dr. McIlhaney's credibility, citing that he was misleading in his presentations about sexually transmitted infections. Hmmm, does that make scientific sense to anybody? Senator Edward Kennedy put it best when he said, "Advisory committees are supposed to give the government and the public expert, unbiased advice based on the best possible science. By stacking these important committees with right-wing ideologues instead of respected scientists, the administration is putting the health and well-being of the American public at risk." Well, I suppose the President can choose anyone he wants to advise him, but certainly he would ensure that science-based entities like the Food and Drug Administration would be full of the best, cutting-edge scientists to ensure and promote the health of the American public. Apparently not. On Christmas Eve 2002, Bush appointed three outspoken anti-choice doctors to the Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee of the FDA, which is responsible for making recommendations on several aspects of family planning. The most appalling of these appointments was Dr. W. David Hager. In a book he co-authored, Hager recommends prayer and reading specific scripture for relief of aliments such as headaches and premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Additionally, he is outspoken in his opposition of prescription contraceptives for unmarried women. Dr. Hager is associated with the Christian Medical Association and the Physician's Resource Council of the conservative Focus on the Family group. I, for one, would like to see the good Dr. Hager locked in a room full of women suffering from serious PMS while he attempts to "treat" them with prayer and scripture. Another choice selection for this committee was Dr. Joseph B. Stanford, who is so zealous in his ideology that he refuses to prescribe contraceptives of any sort and favors instead the rhythm method of family planning, despite its 80 percent rate of success in preventing pregnancy, as opposed to the 99 percent success rate of the birth control pill. Dr. Stanford says that he supports the rhythm method because "medicine is permeated with attitudes toward sexuality and fertility that are incompatible with Christian values of the sanctity of life, marriage, and procreation, attitudes that both reflect and perpetuate the recreational approach to sexuality found in our secular culture." Why would Bush appoint two people who oppose contraceptive use to a committee that is supposed to study it? The dangerous trend that is emerging in the selection of these appointees is clear now: Bush is choosing people based, not on their scientific expertise, but on the basis of their political and ideological beliefs. The 2003 Report of the Minority Staff of the U.S. House of Representatives asserted that "the Administration's political interference with science has led to misleading statements by the President, inaccurate responses to Congress, altered web sites, suppressed agency reports, erroneous international communications, and the silencing of scientists. The subjects involved span a broad range, but they share a common attribute: the beneficiaries of the scientific distortions are important supporters of the President, including social conservatives and powerful industry groups." It seems that Bush is trying, appointment by appointment, to turn back the last three decades of progress in reproductive health and choice for women, by handing over power to the small, Christian extremist groups who do not represent the views of the majority of this country. It is time to take a stand against this dangerous trend of replacing science with ideology. The Bush administration cannot continue on this horrifying path of suppressing women's reproductive health. I urge you to join your local chapter of NARAL, Planned Parenthood, NOW, or any other organization working to protect a woman's right to choose. Attend The March for Women's Lives on April 25th, 2004 in Washington, D.C. to support this important cause. Do something, but do it today, before you don't have a choice. Sydney Townsend is a first-year graduate student at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. |
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