First of all, Happy 10th to my oldest son, Duncan.
You are a mighty mini warrior.
Bob Sanders.
Go Hemp!!
Okay, check out this image.
Here at SCUM-O, we pride ourselves in finding out more about each and every one of these faceless, nameless pluggers, so that to us they are more than just "Crony #32" in the credits.
Tonight, without further ado (clichés for the clichéd): Dr. W. David Hager.
Previous SCUM-O's:
4/14: Philip Cooney
4/15: Dr. Reid Lyon
4/16: Dr. William Banner, Jr.
4/17: Alice S. Fisher
Seth Shulman keeps providing great candidates for SCUM-O with his insightful book Undermining Science:
Dr. Hager is the author of several books, including As Jesus Cared For Women: Restoring Women Then And Now (1998), which recommends scripture readings as a treatment for premenstrual syndrome, postpartum depression, and eating disorders A staunh anti-abortion activist far out of the mainstream of the medical profession, Hager has publicly likened the contraceptive pill to abortion and, in his private practice, has reportedly refused to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women.
Of course, not just any wingnut can make the SCUM-O list. It takes a dysfuctional Presidential administration for that. Dr. Hager doesn't just make Bush's list of bad appointees, but he's #3 on Heather Wokusch's "ten worst appointees for reproductive freedom:"
Hager was one of three religious conservatives that Bush put on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs in 2002 and only public outcry prevented him from becoming its chairperson.
...snip...
A memo which Hager wrote helped persuade the FDA to overrule its own advisory panel in 2004, thus preventing the emergency contraceptive "Plan B" from being made more easily available. Critics assailed the FDA's decision as ignoring scientific evidence, but in Hager's assessment: "Once again, what Satan meant for evil, God turned into good."
He's even listed by The Old American Century under the 14 points of fascism:
5.) Rampant Sexism: The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.
...snip...
W. David Hager chairman of the FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee does not prescribe contraceptives for single women, does not do abortions, will not prescribe RU-486 and will not insert IUDs.
But that's not the best part (Wokusch again):
A downright criminal side of Hager emerged when his former wife went public with the fact that he had been emotionally, physically and sexually abusive during their 32-year marriage, forcibly sodomizing her on a regular basis.
Wait, WHAT? That's right, his wife says he's a rapist. Ayelish McGarvey has the whole story, complete with all the protestations of "anti-Christion bias" on the dear doctor's part:
When Hager's nomination to the FDA was announced in the fall of 2002, his conservative Christian beliefs drew sharp criticism from Democrats and prochoice groups. David Limbaugh, the lesser light in the Limbaugh family and author of Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging Political War Against Christianity, said the left had subjected Hager to an "anti-Christian litmus test." Hager's valor in the face of this "religious profiling" earned him the praise and lasting support of evangelical Christians, including such luminaries as Charles Colson, Dr. James Dobson and Franklin Graham, son of the Rev. Billy Graham.
Back at Asbury, Hager cast himself as a victim of religious persecution in his sermon. "You see ... there is a war going on in this country," he said gravely. "And I'm not speaking about the war in Iraq. It's a war being waged against Christians, particularly evangelical Christians. It wasn't my scientific record that came under scrutiny [at the FDA]. It was my faith. ... By making myself available, God has used me to stand in the breach. ... Just as he has used me, he can use you."
Up on the dais, several men seated behind Hager nodded solemnly in agreement. But out in the audience, Linda Carruth Davis--co-author with Hager of Stress and the Woman's Body, and, more saliently, his former wife of 32 years--was enraged. "It was the most disgusting thing I've ever heard," she recalled months later, through clenched teeth.
According to Davis, Hager's public moralizing on sexual matters clashed with his deplorable treatment of her during their marriage. Davis alleges that between 1995 and their divorce in 2002, Hager repeatedly sodomized her without her consent. Several sources on and off the record confirmed that she had told them it was the sexual and emotional abuse within their marriage that eventually forced her out. "I probably wouldn't have objected so much, or felt it was so abusive if he had just wanted normal [vaginal] sex all the time," she explained to me. "But it was the painful, invasive, totally nonconsensual nature of the [anal] sex that was so horrible."
I can't make this shit up, people.
Dr. Hager has since moved on:
Hager chose to not be reappointed to the Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee and so ended his term on June 30, 2005.
God Bless America.