PLATFORM : ‘Starve Them’

Starving and humiliating teen-agers who get pregnant is obviously more in tune with the morality of Senate Republicans than the occasional abortion. The controversy over surgeon general-nominee Henry Foster should be studied together with the Senate Republicans’ proposed federal budget, both linked by their ramifications for sexually active girls.

Foster is a nationally recognized expert in the fight against teen-age pregnancy. His career emphasis has been on promoting abstinence and providing contraceptives and education if teen-agers do not delay sexual activity. As an obstetrician-gynecologist, he also has performed abortions.

His nomination will be decided by Senate Republicans who, in the most timely way, have also articulated their view of teen-age pregnancies. When those pregnancies involve the very poorest girls, their view seems to be, starve them and their kids. By proposing to deny welfare benefits to pregnant teens, the Republicans have lost whatever high ground they aspired to on the abortion question.