Posted on 11/03/2001 5:57:26 AM PST by anniegetyourgun
WASHINGTON- Surgeon General David Satcher, who riled the Bush White House over the issue of teaching sexual abstinence in schools, says he'll be stepping down in three months when his four-year term ends.
"My term ends on Feb. 13 and I don't plan to stay on," Satcher said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press. He had been appointed by President Clinton.
Asked if he would like to stay on, he said, "That's not an issue for me."
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson praised Satcher. Asked, however, if he would recommend to Bush that the doctor be retained as surgeon general, he replied: "That is not my decision. That is a decision that Dr. Satcher and the president will have to make."
Satcher drew criticism from the White House last summer after his office released a report that said there was no evidence showing that teaching sexual abstinence in schools was successful. It called for schools to encourage abstinence among students, but to also teach birth control techniques.
Additionally, the report found that there was no evidence that a gay person could become heterosexual.
The report drew a sharp retort from President Bush's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, and demands from political conservatives for Satcher's resignation.
"The president understands the report was issued by a surgeon general that he did not appoint, a surgeon general who was appointed by the previous administration," Fleischer said then. "The president continues to believe that abstinence and abstinence education is the most effective way to prevent AIDS, to prevent unwanted pregnancy."
Satcher said he was not taking sides in a political discussion but reflecting what scientific research showed.
"We try to make very clear what's needed to improve sexual health and what's supported by the science," he said in an interview at the time.
Satcher was the first surgeon general to focus on suicide and mental health. Other action by his office included reports on reducing tobacco use, smoking among women, youth violence and oral health.
Satcher became the 16th U.S. surgeon general in 1998, confirmed over opposition led in the Senate by then-Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo., who is now Bush's attorney general.
The 60-year-old Satcher was born in Anniston, Ala., and raised in an era when poor black families such as his had little access to medical care in his state. The experience helped his resolve to become a doctor.
Satcher earned a bachelor's degree from Morehouse College and medical and doctoral degrees from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
He practiced family medicine in Los Angeles for a time and then moved into academia, serving as a professor at Morehouse School of Medicine and as president of Meharry Medical College in Nashville. In 1993, Satcher was named director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a position he was holding when Clinton appointed him surgeon general.
Write to president@whitehouse.gov to recommend that the administration eliminate this department or leave the position unfilled for the duration.
One by one, the Clinton holdovers are leaving. Excellent news!
Unfortunately, the trickle is not adequate, especially at INS.
I remember when Klinton appointed him. He introduced him by the wrong name twice before he got it correct.
And may I ad here that the Surgeon General's website is the most useless of all federal sites.
I'll second that. He is not up to the task. Never was. Still, I am sure he is a good human being and a good doctor, but his head is full of PC crappolla and he is afraid ( or unable ) to assume moral leadership alongside his medical leaderhip. Our nation deserves BOTH!
David
They were so funny--I forgot to laugh. Spending our hard
earned money teaching our children how to have sex with
themselves and others. I am seeing RED again!
Or safer guns with safer bullets.
Some days I think liberals really want to stick it to their most feverent supporters.
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