Dr.+Joyce+Elders

Christopher Wright ** Dr. Joyce Elders ** ** Dr. Joyce Elders History ** Joycelyn Elders was born Minnie Lee Jones in Schaal, Arkansas on August 13, 1933. In college, she changed her name to Minnie Joycelyn Lee (Health and Human Services 2006). Dr. Elders grew up in a rural, segregated, and poor community in Arkansas. After graduating from high school, she earned a scholarship to the all-black liberal arts Philander Smith College in Little Rock. In college, Dr. Elders sites Edith Irby Jones as her main inspiration for aspiring to be a doctor (National Library of Medicine 2008).  After college, Elders joined the Army and trained in physical therapy at the Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. After discharge in 1956 she enrolled at the University of Arkansas Medical School on the G.I. Bill. Although the Supreme Court had declared separate but equal education unconstitutional two years earlier, Elders was still required to use a separate dining room—where the cleaning staff ate. She met her husband, Oliver Elders, while performing physical exams for the high school basketball team he managed, and they were married in 1960(National Library of Medicine 2008).

Elders did an internship in pediatrics at the University of Minnesota, and in 1961 returned to the University of Arkansas for her residency. Elders became chief resident in charge of the all-white, all-male residents and interns. She earned her master's degree in biochemistry in 1967, became an assistant professor of pediatrics at the university's Medical School in 1971, and full professor in 1976(National Library of Medicine 2008).

Over the next twenty years, Elders combined her clinical practice with research in pediatric endocrinology, publishing well over a hundred papers, most dealing with problems of growth and juvenile diabetes. This work led her to study of sexual behavior and her advocacy on behalf of adolescents. She saw that young women with diabetes face health risks if they become pregnant too young—include spontaneous abortion and possible congenital abnormalities in the infant. She helped her patients to control their fertility and advised them on the safest time to start a family (National Library of Medicine 2008).

Governor Bill Clinton appointed Joycelyn Elders head of the Arkansas Department of Health in 1987. As she campaigned for clinics and expanded sex education, she caused a storm of controversy among conservatives and some religious groups. Yet, largely because of her lobbying, in 1989 the Arkansas Legislature mandated a K-12 curriculum that included sex education, substance-abuse prevention, and programs to promote self-esteem. From 1987 to 1992, she nearly doubled childhood immunizations, expanded the state's prenatal care program, and increased home-care options for the chronically or terminally ill (National Library of Medicine 2008).

In 1993, President Clinton appointed Dr. Elders U.S. Surgeon General. Despite opposition from conservative critics, she was confirmed and sworn in on September 10, 1993. During her fifteen months in office she faced skepticism regarding her progressive policies yet continued to bring controversial issues up for debate. As she later concluded, change can only come about when the Surgeon General can get people to listen and talk about difficult subjects (National Library of Medicine 2008).

Dr. Elders left office in 1994 and in 1995 she returned to the University of Arkansas as a faculty researcher and professor of pediatric endocrinology at the Arkansas Children's Hospital. In 1996 she wrote her autobiography, Joycelyn Elders, M.D.: From Sharecropper's Daughter to Surgeon General of the United States of America.

Now retired from practice, she is a professor emeritus at the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, and remains active in public health education (National Library of Medicine 2008). ** Dr. Joyce Elders on Sex and Sex Related Topics ** Dr. Joyce Elders, during her short stint of being Surgeon General, spoke of the threat of AIDS, the sexual abuse of children, the necessity of sex education and easy access to contraceptives for teen-agers. A poor teen-ager with a baby, she said, "is captive to a slavery the 13th Amendment did not anticipate." She fought for school-based health clinics that could dispense contraceptives on request, for AIDS prevention programs and better childhood immunization and prenatal programs. And though she is pro-choice she is even more strongly pro-birth-control. "Whenever I hear of a young girl having an abortion," she said, "I consider it a personal failure (New York Times 1993).

Many people viewed the way Dr. Joyce Elders communicated sexual health to the United States was vulgar and that she needed to be removed from office. The Concerned Women of America were once quoted stating “‘We cannot afford to let Dr. Elders do to America what she did to Arkansas,’ thundered Jan Parshall, a spokeswoman for Concerned Women of America, about President Clinton's nominee for Surgeon General. ‘She believes in comprehensive sexuality education beginning in kindergarten. These are children, many of whom don't know their colors and numbers yet, and she would propose violating their innocence and modesty (New York Times 1993).’” ** Dr. Joyce Elders Cause of Resignation ** Dr. Joyce Elders was a huge advocate for masturbation as a means to prevent pregnancy in teens. She was strongly against abstinence only programs (Bond 2011). In addition, she condoned the idea of teaching schoolchildren to masturbate as a way of avoiding the spread of the AIDS virus (Jehl 1994). In an effort to decimate the high percentage of unwanted teen pregnancies, Dr. Elders also advocated for teens to use birth control if and when engaging in sex. She has also spoken in favor of studying the legalization of drugs and the distribution of contraceptives in public schools and has criticized the Catholic Church for its opposition to abortion, drawing intense fire from conservatives on Capitol Hill and elsewhere (Jehl 1994). Dr. Elders was dismissed by President Clinton after making impolitic comments about masturbation (Stolberg). The specific incident that caused former President Clinton to force Dr. Elders resignation was when Dr. Elders was asked by Dr. Rob Clark, a psychologist who was attending the AIDS conference, about the prospects for "a more explicit discussion and promotion of masturbation" as a means to limit the spread of the virus (Jehl 1994).

Dr. Elders began by describing herself as “a very strong advocate” of teaching sex education in schools “at a very early age. Dr. Elders continued stating that she thinks that masturbation “is something that is a part of human sexuality and it's a part of something that perhaps should be taught. But we've not even taught our children the very basics (Jehl 1994).”

These last comments of Dr. Elders were the straw that broke the former President Bill Clinton’s back. On December 31, 1994, Dr. Elders resigned. She left a legacy of educating the youth about safe sex and also teaching that the health of a nation trumps political correctness. ** References ** Bond, B. (Director) (2011, March 30). Sex Education Student. //Communication 368//. Lecture conducted from The University of Illinois, Champaign. Candor, Conscience and Dr. Elders 1. (1993, July 13). //New York Times.// Health & Human Services. Joycelyn Elders - The Office of Minority Health. //The// //Office of Minority Health//. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from http://www.minorityhealth.hhs.gov/templates/content.aspx?ID=4027. Jehl, D. (1994, December 10). Surgeon General Forced to Resign by White House. //New York Times.// Library of Medicine. Changing the Face of Medicine | Dr. M. Joycelyn Elders. //National Library// //of Medicine - National Institutes of Health//. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine. Stolberg, S. (1998, February 5). Job Itself in Doubt As New Feud Looms On Surgeon General. // New York Times. //