Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, an abortion advocate, announced yesterday she will step down next month from her post as the nation’s top doctor.
“My goal was to create a grassroots movement, to change our health care system from one focused on sickness and disease to a system focused on wellness and prevention,” she wrote in an email to her staffers, first reported by the AP. “With your help, that movement has begun.”
The Hill has more details:
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius praised Benjamin in a statement.
“Regina has served as America’s doctor since 2009 and has impacted the health and lives of Americans across the country. I am deeply grateful for her leadership and service,” she wrote.
Benjamin said she intended to remain involved in public health issues.
The American Public Health Association called Benjamin a “remarkable advocate in promoting the value of prevention.”
“We are extraordinarily grateful for her strong public health leadership,” the group said in a statement.
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Prior to her selection as Surgeon General, Benjamin served on the board of directors of a pro-abortion organization and appeared to support an American Medical Association vote asking colleges to teach more about abortions.
She has been on the board of Physicians for Human Rights, an organization which has spoken out against illegal abortions in many nations across the world.
The group also called on President Bush not to expand the Mexico City Policy, which President Obama overturned in January, that stops sending taxpayer dollars to groups that promote and perform abortions in other nations.
It also asked President Bush to ratify the CEDAW treaty that does not include abortion promotion but has been used by the United Nations to pressure numerous countries to legal abortion or expand abortions further.
Following her nomination, White House spokesman Reid Cherlin confirmed that Benjamin’s position on abortion matches the radical pro-abortion position taken by Obama.
Cherlin said Benjamin “supports the president’s position on reproductive health issues.”
Benjamin runs the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in southern Alabama and, although the facility does not do abortions, staff at the center would not confirm to McClatchy newspapers whether they refer women for them.
