Speaking of a politicized FDA -- Clinton's RU486 Files

Why isn't this being reported by the ''mainstream media''. The answer is obvious to me. For all the editorials talking about the politicizing of the FDA over the MAP, nary a mention of far more direct intervention in the system where RU-486 is involved, AND where people have died! More troublesome is the expediency with which Clinton pursued the issue. And even more troubling than that is one impetus for these actions.

Here is the full A Judicial Watch Special Report:
The Clinton RU-486 Files {pdf file}, and Judicial Watch's Press Release
New Documents from Clinton Presidential Library Reveal Clinton White House and FDA Political Drive to Bring Abortion to U.S. Market

The newly disclosed documents include the Clinton administration?s legal, political and press strategy memos for bringing RU-486 into the American marketplace ? despite the manufacturer?s historical refusal to permit marketing the drug in the United States. Analysis of the records shows:

* President Clinton ordered the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the FDA to coordinate the marketing of RU-486 as his first official act in office. Within one month, the FDA Commissioner had met with the RU-486 manufacturer and parent company.

* Official U.S. government political, economic and diplomatic pressure was brought to bear to strong-arm the companies into changing their policies in order to make the drug available in the United States. In one confidential memo, former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala brags that she and former FDA Commissioner David Kessler personally changed the positions of the makers of RU-486 to market the abortion pill in the United States.

* The FDA was compromised in its role as an objective reviewer of the safety and efficacy of the drug because of its active role in brokering a deal between pharmaceutical firms and an abortion rights foundation. (The five standard requirements for certifying a drug ?safe and effective? were circumvented to rush RU-486 to market.)

?As our report shows, the Clinton administration pushed the abortion pill through the approval process in order to appease the abortion lobby,? said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

Absolutely the most troublesome part of these documents is a letter to President Clinton by one Ron Weddington (co-counsel on the original Roe v. Wade). This can be found on pages 61-64 of the PDF, his cover letter on page 60, and the Clinton Admin's response legitimizing and acting on this on page 58.

Some excerpts:

You can start immediately to eliminate the barely educated, unhealthy and poor segment of our country. No, I?m not advocating some sort of mass extinction (sic) of these unfortunate people. Crime, drugs and disease are already doing that. The problem is that their numbers are not only replaced but increased by the birth of millions of babies to people who can?t afford to have babies. There, I?ve said it. It?s what we all know is true. . . .

I am not proposing that you send federal agents armed with Depo-Provera dart guns to the ghetto. You should use persuasion rather than coercion. . . . You made a good start when you appointed Dr. Elders, but she will need a lot of help. . . .

Government is also going to have to provide vasectomies, tubal ligations and abortions. . . . There have been about 30 million abortions in this country since Roe v. Wade. Think of all the poverty, crime and misery. . . and then add 30 million unwanted babies to the scenario. We lost a lot of ground during the Reagan-Bush religious orgy. We don?t have a lot of time left.

We don?t need more cannon fodder. We don?t need more parishioners. We don?t need more cheap labor. We don?t need more poor babies.

From his letter to Betsey White in which he mentions the liability issues being a big obstacle to marketing U-486 in this country:

It's possible that such an endeavor could be the vehicle for a number of birth control efforts. Something's got to be done very quickly. 26 million food stamp recipients is more than the economy can stand.

Did the Clinton Administration write this guy off as a misguided eugenics supporting Margaret Sanger throwback and file the letter in the trash? Nope. Betsey forwarded it to Donna Shalala for her action!

This is UNCONSCIONABLE.

As a result of Clinton's actions very early in his term, RU-486 was pushed through the FDA like a drug intended to offer last chance experimental treatment for the terminally ill.

Disgusting

We now have a 7th death