Dr. Hagar says women suffering from PMS should pray and read the Bible for relief, page 4

Originally posted by Bleys
Dr. Hager also sees PMS as a stress-related disorder and not a physical one.

Well, not having any personal experience with these issues, I would just like to say that in the early days of the feminest movement there was plenty written about the menstrual cycle and its impact on women's mental and physical health. At that time, I even saw on national television, Germaine Greer dare Johnny Carson to tell her whether or not she was experiencing her period. There was much made of the fact that Jewish women had more menstrual problems that most women and that, indeed, the psychological and physiological responses to menstruation were culturally conditioned.

Of course, there was a political agenda attached to these claims and while the experience of menstruation probably hasn't changed for the species, the political agenda seems to have changed considerably. In the early days of the feminest movement the imperative was to break into the "man's world" and the traditional argument that women were less emotionally stable needed to be discredited.

Now, most barriers faced by women in those days have been eradicated and the political agenda is different, although I have to admit that I gave up trying to keep up with the feminest agenda long ago since the last time I checked it could change almost daily, miraculously, if you will.

I don't know Dr. Hager nor had I ever heard of him until today. I think that he gave a very good accounting of his position on Mifeprex and it was clinically sound. The stringent regulations regarding the approval of new drugs are in place to protect the public, not to frustrate them. When the regulations were relaxed for AIDS drugs the rationale was that the drugs were going to be used for patients with a death sentence anyway.

With respect to his religious beliefs, I believe that he has a right to treat patients as he sees fit, as long as it is medically responsible. He claims to not refuse to give birth control to unmarried sexually-active women, but if he did, it would be entirely within his rights to do so, provided he refers the patient to a physician who does, if indeed, the patient is incapable of using the Yellow Pages or a referral service to seek medical services.

So, therefore, I believe that Dr. Hager is perfectly capable of using his clinical skills to evaluate drugs, since in his capacity as an FDA physician his skill will not require direct patient contact.