Surgeon General Koop Letter Against Abortion Funding Closes Harry Reid’s Office
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 4, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — In a bizarre chain of events that appears to put Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s staff in a bad light, Reid’s office was closed for 45 minutes as Capitol Hill police scanned a letter that ended up coming from pro-life former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.
Capitol Police temporarily shut down Reid’s office on Wednesday after his staffers alerted them to what they thought was a suspicious letter.
The letter raised eyebrows in Reid’s office because it was hand-delivered without a stamp and with Koop’s name listed in the upper left-hand corner without an address.
Roll Cal magazine, which covers Congress, reached Koop at his home Wednesday afternoon and he confirmed he sent the letter.
Koop said he wrote a few “beautifully typed” pages about his views on the government-run health care bills pending in Congress.
That the letter would cause Reid’s staff to create a panic is “nonsense,” he said.
“I wasn’t aware that sending a hand-delivered letter was an offense,” he told Roll Call. “I did it over a weekend. I don’t have a lot of secretarial help and I’m 93.”
Koop also told the Capitol Hill newspaper that the letter asked Reid to ensure that no funds be used to pay for abortions in the health care program and that it include a provision to ensure doctors and medical students are not required to perform abortions or refer for them.
“All you need to know is that I sent it,” he said, with Roll Call reporting that a postal clerk alerted Reid’s office to the letter and placed it in an outgoing mailbox.
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