Dr. Strangelove Hits the Bricks

Dr. W. David Hager, who, it was recently alleged by his former wife, is a serial spousal rapist, has said he will no longer serve on the FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee when his second terms ends on June 30. He also claims the decision was made before his wife’s allegations were made public (which I believe has an approximate likelihood of a pig flying out of my ass), and that his wife is a bitter liar.

Supporters say Hager is under attack because of his political views and his faith.

Well, yeah. I can’t say definitively whether Hager repeatedly sodomized his wife against her will and withheld money from her unless she performed oral sex on him, but what I can say definitively is that he is a man whose religion clearly informs both his political views and his role on a health advisory panel, where there is no room for politics or religion. The decision about the legalization of the morning-after pill, for example, should not predicated upon personal political or religious beliefs. He was appointed not as a politician or a theologian, but a medical practitioner, and it is that particular expertise alone which should have guided his recommendations. Whether one personally believes in the morality of abortifacients is not relevant; abortion is legal in this country, and emergency contraception is a valuable tool in protecting women against unwanted pregnancies well before an invasive abortive procedure is necessitated.

If Hager didn’t want to be singled out for attack because of his political views and faith, he shouldn’t have brought them to his job as a medical consultant on a federal panel. That every lousy dominionist in the country wants to be able to be overtly political and religious in every aspect of public life is ridiculous, and there’s nothing wrong (or anti-faith) about pointing out that there are indeed many places, particularly in government, where the invocation of faith is simply inappropriate. The accusations from his wife are a secondary concern to the fact that he is manifestly unable to do the job required of him without infusing his thought with misplaced political and religious activism, neither of which have any bearing on the medical safety of the drug he refused to recommend.

"This is trash journalism," said Carrie Gordon-Earll, a senior policy analyst for Focus on the Family. "It's an ugly divorce that's being used for political gain. This has been a concerted effort on the left to discredit him and have him removed from a place of influence."

Apparently, Ms. Gordon-Earll is of an old school of thought where spousal rape is just fine and dandy, but she needs to get her ass into the twenty-first century: it’s a crime. Criminals don’t belong in places of influence; they belong in jail. And there seems to be an intrinsic conflict of interest in the attitude of an administration who would reward a man who forcibly sodomized his wife with a position on a federal panel while they simultaneously seek to curtail the rights of a segment of the population who engage in consensual sodomy.

The White House declined to comment on whether Hager will be reappointed. "We don't speculate on personnel announcements," said White House spokesman Taylor Gross.

What does it tell you about this White House that they refuse to even address the possibility that one of their appointees is a serial rapist? Not a word about trying to discern the veracity of Linda Davis’ claims; not a hint of alarm that the “W is for Women” administration may have inadvertently appointed a rapist to a panel on women’s health; not the merest comment that if Davis’ allegations are true, they would expect Hager to step down; not even a smidgeon of lipservice that they rigorously try to ensure that the best personnel are working on behalf of American women. They don’t give a shit about anything but saving face, and it’s possible to make it all go away by pretending Hager is just stepping down because, yawn, he’s tired of being on the panel, all the better for the administration. They owe American women an explanation, and they owe us an apology.

Though the likelihood of that happening is approximately the same as the aforementioned pig getting nominated as Hager’s replacement on the panel. Of course, as an American woman, I can say with certainty that I’d prefer a flying ass pig making decisions about my health than Dr. Hager.

(Hat tip Pam.)