Population Official Quits; Cleared of Travel Wrongdoing

Marjory E. Mecklenburg, head of the Office of Population Affairs, has resigned after an investigation of travel expense accounts cleared her of any wrongdoing, a Health and Human Services Department spokesman said Wednesday.

Richard McGowan, an aide to HHS Inspector General Richard Kusserow, said Mecklenburg resigned Tuesday following the conclusion of an investigation into allegations of “impropriety on travel vouchers” for 14 out-of-town trips she took in 1983 and 1984. The trips, including some with her deputy, cost the government about $13,000.

“We have reviewed the allegations,” McGowan said. “There is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing . . . In view of the fact that Ms. Mecklenburg is leaving federal service, we see no further need to continue reviewing her operations.”

Mecklenburg wrote the Reagan Administration’s rule to require federally funded clinics to tell parents when their minor daughters sought prescription birth control products. The rule was overturned in the courts.