W. David Hager has been outed today not only as the writer of a “minority report” that influenced the FDA’s decision not to give emergency contraception over-the-counter-status, but also as an abusive rapist. Yeah, I’m serious.
Hager, the controversial doctor who Bush appointed to the FDA’s Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs last year, was always known to be a religious misogynist. As a doctor he was known to give demeaning 'ethical lectures' before prescribing birth control to unmarried women and wrote a book recommending Scripture readings to treat PMS. (So you can imagine how pleased us pro-choicers were with his appointment to the advisory committee.)
The Nation’s recent article on Hager, Dr. Hager’s Family Values, reveals offenses much worse than diatribes on the bible and menstruation.
Linda Carruth Davis [Hager’s former wife of thirty-two years]...alleges that between 1995 and their divorce in 2002, Hager repeatedly sodomized her without her consent. Several sources on and off the record confirmed that she had told them it was the sexual and emotional abuse within their marriage that eventually forced her out. "I probably wouldn't have objected so much, or felt it was so abusive if he had just wanted normal [vaginal] sex all the time," she explained to me. "But it was the painful, invasive, totally nonconsensual nature of the [anal] sex that was so horrible."
Read the whole article; it details emotional, financial and sexual abuse that Hager subjected his wife to for years. It’s completely appalling.
In less horrifying (but still disturbing) news on Hager, both The Nation and The Washington Post report on the doctor/rapist’s role in keeping emergency contraception from going over-the-counter:
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."
I'm speechless.
Pandagon and Echidne also have the story.
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I don't know of any ex-wife that's had anything nice to say about her ex-husband. Indeed I know of a great deal who actually made things up and filed false police reports and they were later punished for it.
If, and I say if, big if, if that is true, the guy ought to swing. But I've yet to see any evidence that suggests it is true.
Basically it's a her word vs his word, and in the USA, that's not evidence. That's an accusation. If she wants to make a case out of it, she needs to file a police report and charge him with rape. If it was rape as she says, there is no reason not to file a report, and she already ought to have.
Although yes I realize there are reasons (mostly the "blame the vicitm" society that we live in). Yes, I hate that aspect of American society that somehow either just ignores the victim's plight or outright blames the victim. It's wrong.
If this woman truly is a victim though, she needs to take measures to rectify the situation. Paramount amongst those would be the immediate filing of charges against the man. Otherwise it just becomes a case of verbal accusations that have not even been investigated.
I agree, if the guy is a rapist, she needs to do everything in her power to have him locked up and make sure he doesn't harm anyone else. Perhaps in prison he will learn that being raped is not a pleasant experience.
I don't know of any ex-wife that's had anything nice to say about her ex-husband.
How do you do, Militant C? My ex is an okay guy and I think we're both sorry things didn't work out. He certainly never tried to rape me.
As for Hagar, you can think of different explanations for his ex-wife's statements from here 'til breakfast, but the most plausible is that he's as big an SOB as she says.
Unless you're really hell-bent on defending him, you can't really contend he's clean just because he's never been convicted of a notoriously hard-to-prosecute crime. (Well, you can, but it's still grasping at straws.)
Well if they lived in Tennessee at the time, but Tennessee Code § 39-13-507 makes it clear: In Tennessee a person only commits rape or sexual battery of a spouse when the person is armed with a weapon or credible decoy, causes serious bodily injury to the victim, or when the spouses live separate apart and one of them has filed for a divorce or separation. A spouse's explicit lack of consent (including screaming No and/or calling for help) does not make it rape or assault. Additionally, if they are Catholic (I got this from a co-worker going through pre-cana) a man has grounds for an annulment if he requests sexual favors of his wife that she refuses on the on the grounds his requests disgust her or she finds them immoral (her priest mentioned it as an aside, meant to be a joke - this is a rule the priest himself found objectionable).
Now that's what I call good morals, just like Doc Hagers
My mother has made all sorts of baseless and insane claims about my father. But I was there, and I know the one doing the hitting was her, he was an incredibly restrained man. My father has a bad habit with letting women hit him, and he's never hit back. He's even gotten bloody noses and major bruises but he just doesn't hit back. He's single now. He divorced my mother a LONG time ago, since she was a deadbeat who did nothing.
He worked, did about 90% of the housework, took me to pre-school (I went to a private pre-school a rather nice one, it was about 5,000 dollars a year). He put her through college, he cooked, etc. She worked 8 hours a day and then came home later (Since she was sleeping around with a dozen plus guys, not an exaggeration, the sad truth), and she never stopped yelling and whining at him.
I'm glad he divorced her, and this was after he kept forgiving her time and time again for the repeated adultery. I also respect his restraint for not hitting or killing her (since he did catch her in the act a few times). I don't know if I'd have had such restraint.
I blame her being void of all morality on her personal character flaws and the public education system that braiwashed her with agitprop.
the Nation article seems to make it clear that this woman told a lot of people about the alleged abuse when it was allegedly happening. it's not as though she suddenly started hurling accusations around later.
the issue here isn't whether this woman should prosecute him; she chose not to for various reasons. that is worth discussing, but the issue we are faced with now is a man in a position of power over women who may in fact be a misogynist abuser of women.
He may or may not be, we live in a society where people are innocent until proven guilty. Her speculation that he is abusive is not proof enough. I think it does surely warrant further investigation though.
Since she doesn't seem wanting to press charges though, who knows... If he did it or not, it may never be known.
I won't condemn somebody on the words of one bitter ex-wife. (She does seem bitter). Anyway, in my experiences, a lot of women have "Pity sickness" they need pity, and when they don't get it, they make up stories to get it.
My mother has a habit of coming down with a major rare illness weekly, needing surgery monthly (she ultimately makes "Miraculous" recoveries and doesn't need it) she also moans and groans, "I'm going to have to move to Russia to get a job now..." Whine, whine, whine, anything to get pity...
Although that's not say all women cry-wolf. If it's really rape, it needs to be taken seriously. I just don't see how this could be serious since she obviously didn't take it seriously or she would have reported it. Maybe she was just mad at him and wanted to complain about him?
She's offered no evidence. If she can offer solid evidence, then we can start talking about forming a lynch mob (I'm a bit old-fashioned in regards that I think rapists ought to be lynched).
Militant-
Did you read the Nation article? It addresses some of what you're wondering about, like why she didn't do anything about it at the time. The information is in the divorce files, apparently, and that's part of why she came forward now. Hager started using his divorce in a public way, and, she says, this was infuriating for her because of her experiences with him.
I would be bitter too if I'd been ass-raped by my husband for years.
The problem people have with this guy isn't JUST that is ex wife is now telling stories about him. He has a well documented record of misogynistic, paternalistic treatment of women, and that's actually why the charges appear so credible. It makes perfect sense to many of us that a guy who tries to control women's bodies as a doctor and as a bureaucrat would have treated his wife this way, too.
Most rape victims don't report it. It's not because it's "not serious". You can't assume that someone else is going to behave the way YOU think they should, or the way you think you would in their situation. And you say "innocent til proven guilty", but you seem ready to condemn her as a bitter liar.
I do agree and accept that rape is one of the most least reported crimes, only about what is it 10% get reported. But I don't think just because this guy is a bit old-fashioned and biblical in regards to gender roles, that he is necessarily a woman-hating rapist. I've seen no evidence that he is. Yes, I did read an article about him, it was long and it made some very good points about why she might not have been able to report it, but still, I am not convinced he did what she says. There has to be proof. "He said she said" won't hold up in court.
Legally speaken, her case doesn't have even a single leg to stand on.
Oh, I get it, Militant. It's OK for Hager to be in a position of responsibility because (a) your mother is psychologically unbalanced; and (b) beyond-a-reasonable-doubt is a hard standard to satisfy. Please.
Sorry for all my recent typos, I am barely able to breathe as it is. I think I may go to the hospital, I can't really think clearly and I can hardly breathe. I think I have pneumonia or something along those lines, and to make it worse, I got into a scuffle with a friend and the can of mace I carry with me went off (on both of us). Oh well. Anyway, I just wanted to add one last comment before I either go lay down or go to the doctor.
If that guy really has such serious allegations pending against him, if it's even a remote possibility it's true, he ought not be in such a high and respected position, at least not until everything is sorted out.
Delayed response:
FYI Militant:
Rape has the same false report rate as all other major crimes. That is 2% of the time women make up a rape; the same as arson, robbery, breaking & entering.
That means there is a 98% chance that this actually took place.
Also, to date there has never been a successful prosecution of spousal rape. Odds are overwhelming that this took place and if it went to court it would be dismissed, which is most likely why she doesn't want to press charges.
How would you like to get on the stand and have to answer questions on whether or not you liked it when your hubby fucked your ass?
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