Science vs. Ideology and the Legacy of C. Everett Koop

On the latest bloggingheads, I talk to the Religious Institute’s Debra Haffner about the legacy of former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, who passed away on Monday at the age of 96. In this clip, Haffner describes how, despite his personal opposition to abortion, Koop refused to let ideology get in the way of science in concluding there was no evidence abortion harms women. Anti-choice activists still hail Koop for his role, with Francis Schaeffer, in galvanizing their movement in the 1970s. But the movement has completely overlooked his later conclusion, as Surgeon General, that there was no evidence of medical or psychological harm to women who have abortions. Watch: