[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 26 (Thursday, February 9, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S2430]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  NOMINATION OF DR. HENRY FOSTER, TO BE SURGEON GENERAL OF THE UNITED 
                                 STATES

  Mr. KENNEDY addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I want to speak briefly about two 
important issues facing the Senate. The first is the nomination of Dr. 
Henry Foster, to be Surgeon General of the United States, and the 
second is the continuing impasse over the baseball strike.
  With respect to the Foster nomination, Dr. Henry Foster has had an 
extraordinary, distinguished career in medicine and public health. And 
I believe that the forthcoming hearings on his nomination will 
demonstrate that he is well qualified to be Surgeon General.
  I would like to take this opportunity to make three brief points. 
First, and most important at this stage of the debate, I reject the 
view that Dr. Foster's participation in abortions should disqualify him 
from this high position. Abortion is not a numbers game. It is a legal 
medical procedure and a constitutionally protected right.
  Second, the American Medical Association enthusiastically supports 
Dr. Foster's nomination because of his distinguished service as Dean of 
Meharry Medical College, his record of achievement in medical research, 
his impressive leadership on issues such as preventive health care for 
women and children, for reducing infant mortality and teenage pregnancy 
and fighting drug abuse.
  Third, Dr. Foster has had and deserves to continue to have strong 
bipartisan support. As recently as 1991, he was honored by President 
Bush as one of the President's Thousand Points of Light for his 
innovative I Have A Future Program to reduce teenage pregnancy. I look 
forward to the consideration of Dr. Foster's nomination by the Senate 
Labor Committee.

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