My friend (and former TAP editorial assistant) Kay Steiger has an important piece at RH Reality Check today, asking whether TV-doc Sanjay Gupta, reportedly Obama's choice as surgeon general, can "talk about sex." Gupta's CNN show, "House Call," has occasionally focused on HIV/AIDS, and the good doctor has publicly stated that Plan B prevents pregnancy, and is not an abortofacient. But whether because of personal disinterest or the demands of mainstream television, Gupta has shied away from openly discussing condoms, the failures of abstinence-only education, and lack of access to birth control, even when he covers related issues, such a STIs or teen pregnancy. "[R]eproductive issues specifically rarely grace the screen," Kay writes of Gupta's show. "An entire episode devoted to 'women's health issues' covered only the topics of breast cancer, smoking, and heart disease." I hope that freed from the reins of CNN, Gupta proves able to frankly discuss sexual and reproductive health. A lot is at stake. Data released by the CDC this week shows that the teen birth rate has increased in 26 states, particularly those in the South and Southwest. President Bush's last nominee to the surgeon general position, Dr. James Holsinger, was never confirmed by the Senate because of his history of declaring homosexuality "unnatural" and resisting accountability at the Veterans Health Administration after female patients in the VHA's hospitals were victims of sexual harassment and denied reproductive health care. Undoubtedly, Gupta is a big improvement. But I hope that at his confirmation hearings, Gupta is asked to detail his stances on a variety of reproductive and sexual health matters of national importance, including the domestic HIV/AIDS crisis and the need to provide teens with adequate sex-ed and access to contraception. --Dana Goldstein
