Failed Nominee Still Has Message To Deliver
Dr. Henry Foster Jr. says he never got a fair shot at becoming U.S. Surgeon General last summer amid a debate over abortions the obstetrician-gynecologist performed.
“They had to cheat to keep me out,” said Foster, whose nomination was doomed when the Senate refused to vote on it. “Even Clarence Thomas got a fair vote.”
Yet Foster, 62, said he refuses to waste energy on bitterness. “When one door shuts,” he said, “another opens.”
Doors have been opening one after another for the Nashville doctor and college professor in the form of speaking engagements across the country.
Before speaking at a dinner sponsored by Planned Parenthood of Spokane and Whitman Counties on Saturday, Foster joked about his new popularity: “People like mystery!”
Foster said he’ll use his new platform to tell people the same thing he’d have said as Surgeon General - that children should be better educated about pregnancy.
“We’re never going to eliminate teen pregnancy, but we can lower that figure,” said Foster, who was on the national Planned Parenthood board in the mid-1970s.
Both families and schools should teach children about sex - including abstinence - beginning at a young age, Foster said.
“We must find ways to make these youngsters believe it’s worthwhile to wait,” he said. “Our youngsters have to know getting pregnant as teens isn’t a norm.”
Although more than 400 people purchased tickets for the $75-per-plate dinner, not everyone likes Foster’s message. Security guards watched about a dozen protesters carrying anti-abortion signs outside a reception at the Crescent Court Ballroom downtown.
Foster, a professor at Nashville’s Meharry College, has long been active in teen pregnancy issues. He developed the “I Have a Future” program, which won presidential acclaim for discouraging pregnancy among teens in Nashville public housing projects.
While his speeches focus on preventing teen pregnancies, Foster said he believes abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare.”
Shortly after President Clinton nominated Foster last February, he quickly drew opposition from the same conservative groups that hounded Dr. Joycelyn Elders, the surgeon general fired in December.
The White House first indicated Foster performed one abortion, then revised that figure to about a dozen before acknowledging he performed 39 abortions over his four decades as a doctor.
In June, the GOP-dominated Senate refused for a second and final time to vote on Foster’s nomination, a move Clinton said showed “lack of leadership.”
On Saturday, Foster said he hopes his experience with politics doesn’t discourage others from getting involved.
To make a difference, he said, “young people must remain optimistic about the political system in this country.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo