Foster Named as White House Advisor

Seven months after his nomination for surgeon general was shot down amid a bitter flap over the number of abortions he had performed, Dr. Henry W. Foster Jr. has resurfaced in a new role at the White House--senior advisor to the president on the issue of teen pregnancy.

In announcing Foster’s appointment, President Clinton on Monday praised the Tennessee obstetrician-gynecologist for dedicating his career “to dealing with this complex, profoundly human problem,” and said that Foster would work with community groups across the nation “to help give our young people the strength and the tools they need to lead responsible and successful lives.”

Clinton has been saying for more than a year--ever since his 1995 State of the Union address--that teen pregnancy is one of the nation’s most pressing social problems. He reiterated the theme last week in this year’s annual message to Congress.

In making the issue a cornerstone of his domestic policy agenda, Clinton has put himself squarely on the turf of his Republican adversaries, who have said that the rise in illegitimacy is the result of years of liberal welfare policies.

These same adversaries, using the theme of family values, helped scuttle Foster’s nomination to the surgeon general’s post last June by attacking discrepancies in Foster’s accounts of the number of abortions he had performed. And on Monday, conservatives again criticized Clinton’s choice.

“Bill Clinton in his State of the Union Address sounded a very loud call for sounder values in society,” said Gracie Hsu, an analyst for the Family Research Council. “We were skeptical but hopeful that he intended to follow through with the ideas expressed in his speech. Unfortunately, this appointment shows that that is not the case.”

Every year, about 1 million American teenagers become pregnant, a figure that accounts for roughly 11% of young women 15 to 19. Contrary to popular assumption, however, the national teen pregnancy rate actually has declined slightly in recent years, dropping 4 percentage points from 1991 to 1993, according to statistics provided by the White House.

As the founder of the successful “I Have a Future” program in Nashville, Foster gained national acclaim for his work in teen pregnancy prevention. The program used after-school classes to teach girls how having a baby could restrict their lives. Only a handful of the more than 800 young women who went through it got pregnant.

Throughout his confirmation struggle, when Foster was asked what he would like to do if he became surgeon general, he replied that he would combat teen pregnancy. Shortly after he lost the nomination, he told reporters that he would gladly accept if Clinton offered him a job working on the issue.

In the months since, Foster has been an unpaid consultant to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, although little has been said publicly about his work. Even during the announcement with Clinton on Monday, Foster did not speak. White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said later: “Maybe it was an oversight on our part.”

In his new post, Foster will act as liaison to a newly created private nonprofit coalition to help states and local communities establish prevention programs. On Monday, as he was announcing Foster’s appointment, Clinton also announced creation of the group, called the National Campaign to Reduce Teen Pregnancy.

The coalition, which is nonpartisan, was put together by the White House and includes an eclectic mix of politicians, corporate denizens, religious leaders and entertainment-industry figures on its board. Among them are former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R-Kan.), former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young, actress Whoopi Goldberg and MTV President Judy McGrath.