Surgeon General Choice Reveals More Abortions : Nomination: Henry Foster Jr. says he performed 39 procedures but asks to be judged on entire career.

Embattled surgeon general nominee Henry Foster Jr. on Wednesday night acknowledged having performed more than three times the number of abortions he had estimated last week, but he insisted that “I abhor abortion” and asked to be judged on his full public health career.

Breaking the customary silence of nominees at the urging of the White House, the Tennessee physician said in a televised interview that he was listed as “physician of record” in 39 abortions during the course of his 38 years in medicine.

He also said that during his involvement as a supervisor in clinical trials of an abortion-inducing drug, 55 women had terminated pregnancies. But he asserted that those abortions should not be counted toward his total because “they weren’t my private patients. . . . Many times I was not even in the country when they occurred.”

Foster’s statements on ABC-TV’s “Nightline” marked what the Clinton Administration hopes will be a successful counterattack against abortion foes who have called Foster’s abortion record and his credibility into question since his nomination six days ago.

Alleging that Foster may have performed hundreds of abortions and disclosing his involvement in the abortion-drug tests, they have stirred a tempest in Congress and brought predictions from both parties that the nomination may be doomed.

Foster said on “Nightline” that the Administration’s earlier reports of lower abortion totals were the results of simple misunderstandings and his failure to appreciate that he should not rely on his memory. He said his initial report that he had taken part in only one abortion grew from a casual response when an Administration aide had asked if he had undertaken any pregnancy terminations.

He said he answered: “Yes, I remember, there was a woman who had AIDS.”

He said a statement he released Friday increasing the estimate to fewer than a dozen was also based on memory from a practice that began a third of a century ago.

But now, better grasping the rules of the “fast town” of Washington, he said he understands that he should have refused to answer the question. “I was depending on memory--I shouldn’t have done that.”

Foster said his new abortion figure resulted from three days of exhaustive study of records from his 38 years in practice, including 22 at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, where he was a former dean. The figures were put together by Foster and a team of Administration aides working at the White House and in Tennessee.

He insisted that abortion was never a significant part of his practice and gave a categorical response when asked his views on the termination of pregnancies. “I abhor abortions. I abhor war. To me, abortion is failure. I don’t like failure.”

Asked why he helped supervise the abortion-drug trials, he said: “We have a responsibility in training residents to maintain our accreditation.” He was referring to his responsibilities as a dean at Meharry.

He added that the medical faculty also had a responsibility to teach residents “how to manage the complications of abortions” and a duty to do what it could “so patients might be able to avoid having mechanical procedures” to end pregnancy.

The ABC interview included a remarkable acknowledgment from White House Chief of Staff Leon E. Panetta that Administration officials had badly blundered in not foreseeing the political firestorm that would arise from Foster’s abortion work.

“The staff in this situation probably did not serve the President well, in terms of going into the full background,” said Panetta, who was brought in by President Clinton six months ago to help avoid just such embarrassing missteps.

Foster said he differs from his predecessor, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, on some aspects of public health policies, though he said he shares her goal of bringing better lives to people. He said he believes that issues of sex education “needed to be addressed at the family level” rather than through schools.

But he declared that his first choice is sexual abstinence. “I favor abstinence--abstinence--that’s the basis of our program,” said Foster, whose efforts to avoid pregnancy in youngsters has been widely praised.

“I’m a big fighter--I’m looking forward to being touted around (Capitol Hill) to get my message across,” he said, adding that he believes he has Clinton’s full support.

Foster’s public appearances broke a longstanding tradition. Out of deference to the authority of the Senate, presidential nominees usually keep silent until they appear before the committee considering their selection. Indeed, on Thursday, President Clinton’s nominee to head the CIA, retired Air Force Gen. Michael P.C. Carns, declined to take questions for just such a reason.

But a White House official said of the Foster case: “We wanted an opportunity to have it explained by the person who could explain it best.”

Administration officials said they have come to believe that the Tennessee obstetrician-gynecologist needed to be allowed to speak to shift the focus from his abortion record to what they consider the more relevant issue, his life’s work in public health. Foster, who is the former president of Meharry Medical College and longtime crusader against teen-age pregnancy, “makes a very good impression,” a senior official said.

The Adminstration is counting on its hunch that many senators--including Republicans--do not want to focus on the abortion issue because it deeply divides both parties. One sign of that unease came Wednesday, when Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who has wavered on the nomination, said he does not think Foster should be judged solely on his abortion record.

White House officials insisted Wednesday that they have no doubts about Foster’s credibility, even as a team of aides from the White House and Department of Health and Human Services continue to pore over records of his practice. Clinton continued to stand behind his nominee, saying: “I believe he should be confirmed and I believe he will.”

Yet while Adminstration officials insisted that the campaign was a sign of their intention to fight, such plans have not always signaled that strategy.

On June 2, 1993, C. Lani Guinier, nominee to head the Justice Department’s civil rights division, went on “Nightline” to defend her record. The next day, the President abruptly pulled her nomination, saying that her views on fundamental civil rights issues did not square with his own.