FDA EC Audit, Alito reports show Bush Administration’s danger to women
(Portland, OR) – NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon is thoroughly monitoring the anti-women’s health efforts of the Bush administration. Two recent reports make clear the extent to which the President’s office is using its power to put women’s health at risk. Monday’s GAO audit of the FDA’s Plan B over-the-counter approval process is direct evidence of politics overpowering science to the detriment of women’s health. Wednesday, a former colleague of Samuel Alito spoke of the nominee’s eagerness to work on the Reagan administration’s Thornburgh brief – arguing in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade.
“This week’s chilling revelations are starting to feel disturbingly unsurprising,” says Ms. Stranger-Hunter. “The Bush administration has always been dismissive of women’s health concerns, consistently standing in the way of reproductive progress, even actively passing laws and supporting court decisions that put women’s lives at risk. This FDA Audit shows that a government agency legally required to base its decision on science has willfully ignored this requirement. It achieved this egregious miscarriage of justice by working in close conjunction with Bush administration officials.”
“President Bush is using his power to put women’s health at risk. The nomination of Samuel Alito is evidence of the President’s continuing desire to destroy our reproductive rights, because of his personal ideology and political aims. Americans have read Alito’s own words boasting of the special gratification he felt to be involved in the Reagan Administration’s efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade. Everyday, we learn new information revealing the true nature of Alito’s work at the Department of Justice—as an architect of a legal philosophy that opposed a woman’s constitutional right to choose,” Stranger-Hunter said. “Since the vast majority of Americans want the Supreme Court to uphold the fundamental freedoms guaranteed under Roe v. Wade, the Bush White House will continue to try to downplay the emerging facts about Alito’s legal record. But President Bush should know that the public won’t accept a Supreme Court nominee like Alito who consistently tries to distance himself from his own words.”
NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon is dedicated to keeping Oregon’s citizens informed so they can take action to protect the health of the women of this state. Ms. Stranger-Hunter urges all Oregonians who want to learn more about the status of reproductive rights in this state and in the country to visit the organization’s website – www.prochoiceoregon.org. “The FDA and the Supreme Court are two institutions that have significant power over our lives. You can take action to keep them free of political ideology – act now!”
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