Editing C. Everett Koop (section)

==Surgeon General of the United States==
[[File:C. Everett Koop on the day of his confirmation as Surgeon General (QQBBQB) noframe.jpg|right|thumb|Koop with his wife, Betty, Senator [[Orrin Hatch]] of Utah, and Secretary of Health and Human Services [[Richard Schweiker]].]]
As expected, Koop was nominated to be Surgeon General of the United States by Reagan later in 1981.<ref name="HuffPost Ring Cass">{{cite news|last=Ring|first=Wilson|author2=Connie Cass|date=February 25, 2013|title=C. Everett Koop Dead: Former Surgeon General Dies At 96|newspaper=The Huffington Post|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/25/c-everett-koop-dead-dies_n_2761192.html?ir=Politics}}</ref> Many liberal politicians and women's groups opposed the nomination because of Koop's very conservative views and strong anti-abortion beliefs.<ref name="HuffPost Ring Cass"/> His nomination was confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] on November 16, 1981, by a vote of 60–24.<ref name="Pittsburgh Press sworn in">{{cite news|title=Koop Takes Office as Surgeon General in Quiet Ceremony|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IckdAAAAIBAJ&pg=2328,2875603|newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press|date=January 22, 1982}}</ref> He was sworn into office on January 21 the following year.<ref name="Pittsburgh Press sworn in"/>

===Abortion===
Although Koop was opposed to [[abortion]] on personal and religious grounds,<ref name="NYT death forceful" /><ref name="HuffPost Ring Cass" /><ref name="NYT Koop's Stand">{{cite news|last=Tolchin|first=Martin|date=January 11, 1989|title=Koop's Stand on Abortion's Effect Surprises Friends and Foes Alike|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/11/us/koop-s-stand-on-abortion-s-effect-surprises-friends-and-foes-alike.html}}</ref><ref name="MSNBC Koop told the truth">{{cite news|last=Cowley|first=Geoffrey|date=February 25, 2013|title=C. Everett Koop, a conservative who told the truth|newspaper=MSNBC|url=http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/02/25/c-everett-koop-a-conservative-who-told-the-truth/}}</ref> he declined to state that abortion procedures performed by qualified medical professionals posed a substantial health risk to the women whose pregnancies were being terminated, despite political pressure to endorse such a position.<ref name="NYT Leary" /><ref name="MSNBC Koop told the truth" />

====Koop Report====
Koop, an opponent of abortion, resisted pressure from the [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan administration]] in 1987 to prepare a report stating that abortion was psychologically harmful to women.<ref name="NYT abortion">{{cite news|title=U.S. Data on Abortion Censored, House Unit Says|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/11/us/us-data-on-abortion-censored-house-unit-says.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 11, 1989}}</ref> He said it was not a public health issue but a moral one.<ref name="Bloomberg death">{{citation|author1-last=Schoifet|author1-first=Mark|title=C. Everett Koop, Surgeon General Who Took on Tobacco, Dies at 96|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-25/c-everett-koop-surgeon-general-who-took-on-tobacco-dies-at-96.html|url-access=subscription|work=Bloomberg.com|date=February 25, 2013 <!--16:00 GMT-->|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130228211719/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-25/c-everett-koop-surgeon-general-who-took-on-tobacco-dies-at-96.html|archive-date=February 28, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> Koop assigned an assistant, George Walter, the task of researching the matter. Walter obtained a list of articles from the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] (CDC), authored mainly by CDC abortion-surveillance staff, and consulted with [[Alan Guttmacher Institute]] personnel. Walter wrote a draft report on his findings and gave it to Koop.

In a January 10, 1989, letter to Reagan, Koop said there was insufficient evidence to substantiate issuing the finding desired by the administration.<ref name="Bloomberg death" /><ref name="NYT abortion" /><ref name="NYT Leary">{{cite news|last=Leary|first=Warren E.|title=Koop Says Abortion Report Couldn't Survive Challenge|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/17/us/koop-says-abortion-report-couldn-t-survive-challenge.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 17, 1989}}</ref> He also commented about how some of the president's advisers thought that "it was a foregone conclusion that the negative health effects of abortion on women were so overwhelming that the evidence would force the reversal of ''[[Roe v. Wade]]''".<ref name="NYT Leary" />

Koop did not present the draft report to Reagan and claimed he never approved it.<ref name="NYT Leary" /> In March 1989, the "Koop Report" became public after it was [[subpoena]]ed and became part of a [[United States House of Representatives|Congressional]] subcommittee hearing.<ref name="NYT Leary" /> Although there were allegations that the report had not been released previously because it was biased, the document contained all arguments on both sides of the issue.<ref name="NYT Leary" />

===Tobacco===
In his 1988 ''Report of the Surgeon General'',{{cn|date=February 2025}} it was reported that [[nicotine]] has an addictiveness similar to that of heroin or [[cocaine]]. Koop's report was somewhat unexpected, especially by those who expected him to maintain the status quo in regard to his office's position on tobacco products. During his tenure, in 1984, Congress passed legislation providing new, rotated health warning labels on cigarette packs and required advertising to include the labels. Those labels remain unchanged today. The FDA announced new labels containing graphic depictions of smoking-caused illness and death, but they were put on hold pending the outcome of the tobacco industry's legal challenges. Koop challenged Americans in 1984 to "create a smoke-free society in the United States by the year 2000."<ref>Koop CE. Call for a smoke-free society. ''Pediatric Pulmonology'' 1985;1:4–5</ref>  As Surgeon General, he released eight reports on the health consequences of tobacco use,<ref>* {{cite web|year=1982|title=The Health Consequences of Smoking: Cancer: A Report of the Surgeon General (1982)|url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/NN/B/C/D/W/|access-date=October 17, 2011|publisher=Profiles.nlm.nih.gov}}
* {{cite web|year=1983|title=The Health Consequences of Smoking: Cardiovascular Disease |url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/NN/B/B/T/D/|access-date=October 17, 2011|publisher=Profiles.nlm.nih.gov}}
* {{cite web|date=April 19, 2002|title=The Health Consequences of Smoking: Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease: A Report of the Surgeon General (1984)|url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/NN/B/C/C/S/|access-date=October 17, 2011|publisher=Profiles.nlm.nih.gov}}
* {{cite web|date=March 27, 2002|title=The Health Consequences of Smoking: Cancer and Chronic Lung Disease in the Workplace: A Report of the Surgeon General (1985)|url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/NN/B/C/B/N/|access-date=October 17, 2011|publisher=Profiles.nlm.nih.gov}}
* {{cite web|date=April 9, 2002|title=The Health Consequences of Using Smokeless Tobacco (April 1986)|url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/NN/B/B/F/C/|access-date=October 17, 2011|publisher=Profiles.nlm.nih.gov}}
* {{cite web|date=March 27, 2002|title=The Health Consequences of Involuntary Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General (1986)|url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/NN/B/C/P/M/|access-date=October 17, 2011|publisher=Profiles.nlm.nih.gov}}
* {{cite web|date=March 27, 2002|title=The Health Consequences of Smoking: Nicotine Addiction: A Report of the Surgeon General (1988)|url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/NN/B/B/Z/D/|access-date=October 17, 2011|publisher=Profiles.nlm.nih.gov}}
* {{cite web|date=September 26, 2005|title=Reducing the Health Consequences of Smoking: 25 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General: 1989 Executive Summary |url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/NN/B/B/X/S/|access-date=October 17, 2011|publisher=Profiles.nlm.nih.gov}}</ref> including the first report on the health consequences of involuntary tobacco smoke exposure. During Koop's tenure as Surgeon General, smoking rates in the United States declined significantly from 38% to 27%.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Mike Stobbe|author2=Connie Cass|date=February 26, 2013|title=C. Everett Koop, 'Rock Star' Surgeon General, Dies|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/everett-koop-surgeon-general-dies-nh-18592170|access-date=February 26, 2013|work=ABC News|agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

===AIDS===
{{further|Ronald Reagan and AIDS}}
Koop was Surgeon General when public health authorities first began to take notice of [[AIDS]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/spotlight/qq/feature/biographical|title=Biographical Overview|date=March 12, 2019|website=C. Everett Koop – Profiles in Science}}</ref> For his first four years in office, Koop, the nation's top health officer, was prevented from addressing this health crisis for reasons he insisted were never apparent to him but that were no doubt political.<ref>{{cite web|date=October 22, 1986|title=The C. Everett Koop Papers: AIDS, the Surgeon General, and the Politics of Public Health|url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Narrative/QQ/p-nid/87|access-date=April 26, 2013|publisher=Profiles.nlm.nih.gov}}</ref> Koop wrote the official U.S. policy on the disease, and in 1988 he took unprecedented action in [[Understanding AIDS|mailing AIDS information to every U.S. household]].<ref>[https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/access/QQBDRL.pdf Understanding AIDS – A Message from the Surgeon General]. Profiles.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved on 2013-02-27.</ref> Health advocates and organizations expressed dissatisfaction with the focus on same-sex activity and anal sexual intercourse as primary vectors for disease transmission. Surgeon General Koop maintained that these activities posed significantly higher risks than other transmission methods. In addition, some religious groups raised concerns about the pamphlet’s candid discussion of sexual practices and its promotion of condom use, leading to calls for Koop's resignation.<ref>{{cite web|date=October 22, 1986|title=The C. Everett Koop Papers: AIDS, the Surgeon General, and the Politics of Public Health|url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Narrative/QQ/p-nid/87|access-date=September 23, 2009|publisher=Profiles.nlm.nih.gov}}</ref> Koop also infuriated some former supporters by advocating sex education in schools, possibly as early as the third grade, including later instruction regarding the proper use of condoms to combat the spread of AIDS.  While a straightforward telling to the public about the disease was controversial, Koop was also criticized by some health activists who claimed that his office had not gone far enough to develop a cure or vaccine, reducing his office's role in educating the public on health concerns.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}

===Disability===
In April 1982, a child born in [[Bloomington, Indiana]], was diagnosed with [[Down syndrome]] as well as [[esophageal atresia]] with [[tracheoesophageal fistula]]. Six days later, after court involvement and parental discussion involving disagreement among physicians about whether or not to treat the baby or let him die, the baby died, having been denied surgical treatment to correct his esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula. Baby Doe, as he would be known, became a symbol for newborns with congenital disabilities, children with disabilities, and the debate over infanticide. Koop was not initially involved with the Baby Doe case but had a special interest in it. As a pediatric surgeon in Philadelphia, he and his colleagues had operated on 475 such babies during his 35 years there, with ever-increasing survival rates. During his last eight years in active practice, Koop never lost a full-term baby upon whom he had operated to correct esophageal atresia. Due to this background, he became actively involved in championing policies to protect the rights of newborns with disabilities, which led to Congress passing the [[Baby Doe Amendment]].

=== Style ===
These four issues, combined with Koop's personality and his willingness to make use of mass media, brought to the office of Surgeon General a higher public profile than it previously had; he is, for instance, the first Surgeon General to have been the subject of a popular song: "[[Broadway the Hard Way#Music and lyrics|Promiscuous]]" by [[Frank Zappa]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/promiscuous-mt0028793613|title = Promiscuous - Frank Zappa &#124; Song Info &#124; AllMusic| website=[[AllMusic]] }}</ref> He was interviewed by [[Ali G]] for comedic effect.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Windolf |first=Jim |title=Ali G For Real REAL  |url=https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/2004/8/ali-g-for-real |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=Vanity Fair {{!}} The Complete Archive |language=en-US}}</ref>

Koop was well known for his [[Shenandoah (beard)|mustache-less beard]] and colorful [[bow tie]]s.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}} He was a [[Vice admiral (United States)|vice admiral]] in the [[U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps]] (U.S. PHSCC).<ref name="Bloomberg death"/> During much of his day-to-day work, Koop wore the surgeon general's U.S. PHSCC uniform, a uniform similar to that of a [[Vice admiral (United States)|vice admiral]]'s in the [[U.S. Navy]]. During his tenure, he re-instated the daily wearing of the PHS uniform by the officers of the PHS.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}}