In response to the growing trend of pharmacies refusing to fill women's birth control prescriptions, California state Senator Deborah Ortiz is protecting the safety and well-being of women in California by sponsoring SB 644, the "Duty to Dispense" bill. For her dedication to the dignity and health of her constituents - she is May's hero of the month!
ZERO OF THE MONTH: FDA Appointee David Hager
Hager, the anti-choice doctor hand-picked by Bush to advise the FDA on reproductive health drugs, has made no secret of his anti-choice views. Hager was reported in The Nation and The Washington Post to have bragged about his role in preventing emergency contraception from being approved for over-the-counter sales:
In his sermon at Asbury College last fall, Hager proudly recounted his role in the Plan B decision.
"After two days of hearings," he said, "the committees voted to approve this over-the-counter sale by 23 to 4. I was asked to write a minority opinion that was sent to the commissioner of the FDA... Now the opinion I wrote was not from an evangelical Christian perspective... But I argued it from a scientific perspective, and God took that information, and He used it through this minority report to influence the decision."
