DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

Public Health Service


Office of the Assistant Secretary
for Health

November 5, 1981          Washington DC 20201

Honorable S. I. Hayakawa
United States Senate
Washington, D. C. 20510

Dear Senator Hayakawa:

I have been traveling for the past 13 days speaking or representing
the Public Health Service, hence, the delay in answering your letter
of October 23.

I don't know what I can do to reassure you that I am a man of my word
and that I have enough integrity to mean what I say.  I have taken the
position that I will not let my personal beliefs be used improperly in
the performance of my job as Surgeon General.

There has been no situation in the eight months that I have been Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Health, where the Surgeon General plays any role
in abortion decision-making.  Insofar as amniocentesis is concerned, I
do support it and particularly its outgrowth, fetoscopy, which I think
represents one of the most exciting advances in the treatment of fetal
disease.  Having spent my life in the correction of anomalies of the
newborn, I can see all sorts of possibilities with fetoscopy and I
support its continued use as a research endeavor.

When I appeared before the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources,
I said that I believed in family planning, that I would support reproduc-
tive research and the search for new male and female contraceptives. I
consider contraceptive research to be one of the great needs of this
country and would like to see increased funding for such an endeavor.

I trust these straightforward brief answers are satisfactory. I would
be more than pleased to sit down and discuss these matters with you at
any time.

Sincerely yours,

C. Everett Koop, M. D.
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health