+iRL LkVIN
  MICH:OAN

WASHINGTON. D.C. 20510
    November 2, 1981

Dr. C. Everett Koop
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health
Department of Health and Hmnan Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Rm. 716-G
Washington, D.C. 20201

DearDr. Koop:

  I am writing concerning your article The Sanctity of Life", which
appeared in the Journal of the Medical Society of New Jersey in January of
1978.  Since I am not a member of the Senate Labor and Human Resources

Cbmnittee and did not have an opportunity to ask any questions regarding
your nomination during the hearings, I thought you might be willing to
respond to my inquiry prior to the Senate vote on your nomination.

In the article you made the following closing statement:

There is much, much mOre that I could say but I would
close by indicating to you that the way we are going is
the way that Germany went before Hitler.  At the close of
World War I Germany was in a despondent state; although
abortion was illegal in Germany it was widely practiced.
There arose frcxn that liberal thinking the euthenasia
movement and it was not long before the mentally ill, the
retarded, criminals, and defective babies were being
gassed and then destroyed by cremation. Eventually, this
destruction extended to patients with tuberculosis, to
amputees, and to those with senility. Two-hundred sixty-
seven thousand people were destroyed this way in Germany
before Hitler came to power.  It could have never happened
if the medical profession had not been in the forefront
of its advocacy.

Could you produce for me documented evidence in support of your concluding
remarks? Thank you in advance for your prcxr@ response to this rather urgent
request.

Sincerely,

Carl Levin