Bush Puts Off Nomination After Flap Over Abortions : Educator’s Pro-Choice Views Cited

President-elect George Bush delayed plans for naming additional Cabinet appointees today amid mounting controversy over the abortion views of an Atlanta educator who is the leading contender for secretary of health and human services.

Pro-choice abortion remarks attributed to Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, president of the Morehouse School of Medicine, threw up a new obstacle to his selection as HHS chief, Bush transition and congressional sources said.

Gary Bauer, who was President Reagan’s domestic policy adviser and who now heads the private Family Research Council, said the possibility of a Sullivan appointment had caused “great discomfort” among conservatives, and they have made that known to Bush transition officials.

Transition officials, stressing privately that Bush had not formally offered Sullivan the post, denied publicly that his remarks over the weekend in an interview with the Atlanta Journal and Constitution had caused the delay.

Position Stated

In that interview, Sullivan said he supports the right of a woman to seek an abortion, while opposing the use of federal funds to pay for it.

That appeared to be at odds with a statement issued last week by transition officials, after a meeting between Bush and Sullivan, suggesting that the medical school official had assured Bush he shares the vice president’s anti-abortion views.

If appointed, Sullivan would be the first black named to Bush’s Cabinet.

Transition officials had scheduled a morning news conference, presumably to announce one or more Cabinet nominations, then abruptly canceled it.

Sheila Tate, Bush’s spokeswoman, said, “There’s no connection between lack of an announcement and the HHS situation.”

She said Bush and Sullivan had discussed abortion and Sullivan “indicated that if he were nominated he would support the vice president’s position.”

In any event, the delay requires yet another trip to Washington for Chicago transit official Samuel Skinner, Bush’s apparent choice for transportation secretary.

Might Have Invited Questions

To announce Skinner’s appointment alone might have subjected Bush to questioning on the abortion controversy, an issue he did not want to get into while the HHS appointment was still up in the air, the sources said.

Skinner, chairman of the Northeastern Illinois Mass Transit Authority, was summoned to Washington last week by transition officials for an expected announcement that was then postponed by Bush.

He returned to Chicago for the weekend, then was summoned back on Monday, then told by transition officials his appointment would come today.

The Atlanta Constitution reported on Monday that Sullivan said he was having trouble getting calls to the White House returned.

“I have simply concluded that, as a result of my not receiving a call back, the things have been put off, and hopefully it’s not anything worse than that,” he said.

Sullivan told the newspaper his pro-choice stand on abortion is a private view and he does not intend to disagree publicly with Bush.