Two things.
1) Westopher, you're wrong. RU-486 IS, in fact, the so-called abortion pill--it's the abortifacient mifepristone which causes an early first-term abortion.
NOT to be confused with the morning-after pill (known in the US as "Plan B", frequently and UNLAWFULLY denied to women with prescriptions by morally sanctimonious pharmacists) which is actually just a high dosage of oral contraceptives ("the pill".)
The former actually causes an abortion by inducing a miscarriage. The latter prevents implantation of any egg that may have been fertilized.
Here's something to put in perspective how backwards--(in my opinion--we *were* founded for freedom from religious persecution, and separation of church and state, after all--the founding fathers were DEISTS!!)--our country has become in terms of the FDA being dragged down by politics and the religious right. I had to write a paper in high school--while Bush's DADDY was in office--debating the pros and cons of RU-486, discuss whether it should be legal, and WHY we were the last in the western world to approve what had been found to be a safe and far-less invasive alternative for those who are put in the awful position to exercise their constitutional right to privacy and CHOICE.
**And for the record, if our administration were not so virulantly against proper sex-education and not so slavishly devoted to the abstinence-based malarkey which has just been put into Texas textbooks, there would be FEWER abortions!! Those who are pro-life should really be ardently pro-contraception if they had their facts straight and faced reality. I understand moral objections to abortion, but wouldn't it be better for women to have more options to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place??
...And 2) Dr. Hager.
This e-chain has been making the rounds for two years. It's outdated at best and misleading at worst. Yeah, the guy's a neanderthal. But due to the opposition his nomination caused TWO YEARS ago, he was not named the chair of this committee. He is still, sadly, on the committee, but a female Stanford doctor was named the chair instead. So it still sucks, but this is old news....and I'm afraid the worst may be yet to come.
Ok. I got all riled up. I hate that our nation is divided by theocrats and spin-meisters, but even MORE, I hate mis-information. (Don't even get my started on the misnomered NON-EXISTANT medical procedure called "partial-birth..." ah, forget it.) You can look it up--visit NOW or NARAL or Planned Parenthood online to get the real story.
And those of you in a position to accidentally procreate, you best keep your eyes on the Supreme Court, and your pens at the ready to write your representative...prepare for Filibuster, folks.
Updated On: 11/9/04 at 11:31 PM