[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 26 (Monday, July 3, 1995)]
[Pages 1122-1123]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

June 24, 1995

    Good morning. Today I'm talking to you from the Convention Center in 
Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The Arkansas firefighters are meeting here, and 
I'm the first sitting President ever to visit Pine Bluff. Zachary Taylor 
planned to come in 1849, but he had to cancel. It's a record I'm proud 
to set. I'm also proud to be here with Dr. Henry Foster, who was born 
here and grew up here.
    Just under 5 months ago, I nominated this fine man to be our Surgeon 
General. And this week, a majority of the United States Senate was 
clearly prepared to confirm him as Surgeon General. But he wasn't 
confirmed. He wasn't confirmed because the Senate was never even allowed 
to vote on his confirmation, because they were blocked by a group, a 
minority group, of willful Senators who abused the procedure to keep his 
nomination from coming to a vote for their own political ends.
    Let me tell you a little bit about Dr. Foster. He's been a doctor 
for 38 years, including 3 years in the United States Air Force. He has 
delivered thousands of babies and trained hundreds of young doctors. 
He's ridden dusty country roads in Alabama to bring health care to 
people who never would have gotten it otherwise. He has labored to 
reduce teen pregnancy, to reduce the number of abortions, to tell young 
people without other role models, in a disciplined, organized way: you 
shouldn't have sex before you're married; you should stay off drugs; you 
should stay in school and do a good job with your life. His efforts to 
give a future to young people without one were recognized first not by 
me but by my Republican predecessor, President Bush.
    Let me tell you something: If more people in America lived their 
lives like Henry Foster, there would be fewer kids on drugs, fewer teen 
pregnancies, fewer abortions, fewer broken families. This is a man our 
country should be proud to call our own.
    So why was a group of Senators determined to stop Dr. Foster? A 
minority of the Senate blocked a vote on him in a calculated move to 
showcase their desire to take away a woman's right to choose. Dr. Foster 
has faithfully performed his duties as a doctor for 38 years. Although 
he has delivered thousands of babies, when the law permitted it, the 
patient requested it, and after appropriate counseling, he did perform 
an average of about one abortion per year.
    Now, I know it is easy to condemn abortion. It's easy to put on 
divisive television ads or pass out inflammatory materials. But it is 
very hard to actually work with children and look at them face to face, 
kids that nobody pays any attention to, and look at them and tell them 
they ought not to have sex, they ought not to get pregnant, they ought 
not to do drugs. That's hard. That's why most of us don't do it. But 
Henry Foster did.
    Unfortunately, in Washington today, pure political correctness and 
raw political power count a whole lot more than actually doing something 
to reduce the tragedies of teen pregnancy and the high number of 
abortions.
    You know, I believe it is clear what the law of the land is, and I 
believe that abortion should be rare but it should be legal and safe. 
The extreme right wing in our country wants to impose its views on all 
the rest of Americans. They killed this nomination with the help of the 
Republican leadership who did as they were told. And they're just 
getting started.
    This week, the House passed a bill which would prevent women who 
serve in our military or who are on military bases with their servicemen 
husbands from getting abortions at base hospitals, even if they pay for 
it and no matter what the circumstances. Imagine a servicewoman in a 
foreign country, a remote location without good medical facilities or 
even a safe blood supply. This House bill would say, ``If you can spend 
thousands of dollars to fly back to the United States for a safe and 
legal procedure, you're all right; otherwise you may have to risk your 
life in a hospital far from home.'' Why? Because she voluntarily 
enlisted to serve her country. So that a woman who's willing to risk her 
life for her country should also have to risk her life for a legal 
medical procedure. This seems to me to be too extreme.

[[Page 1123]]

    In a few days, the House will actually try to cut off Federal funds 
for abortions for poor women that arise from rape or incest. Even those 
with strong antiabortion feelings know this is a tough issue, and most 
people think it ought to be left to individual citizens. It's one thing 
to say that the taxpayers should not pay for a legal abortion that 
arises from a poor woman's own decision. That's one thing. Quite another 
to say that the same rules apply to rape and incest.
    This is a big, diverse country. We are deeply divided over many 
issues, none more than the painful and difficult issue of abortion. The 
law now is that the woman, not the Government, makes a decision until 
the third trimester when a baby can live independently of his mother and 
therefore the Government can prohibit abortions.
    There are some who believe that America now must toe their line and 
that every woman must live by their rules, even though the Constitution, 
as interpreted by the Supreme Court, says exactly the reverse. They'll 
stop at nothing to get their way. And this week it looks like the 
Republican leaders in Congress have given them the keys to the store. 
Looks like they'll vote for any bill, oppose any nomination, allow any 
intrusion into people's lives if they get orders to do so from these 
groups.
    Many, many Americans oppose abortion. And everyone agrees it's a 
tragedy. I believe we should all work to reduce the number of abortions 
through vigorous campaigns to promote abstinence among young people; 
reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancy, especially among teenagers; and promote 
more adoptions. I believe, in short, that we ought to all do more of the 
kind of things that Henry Foster has been doing for decades.
    If people in Washington spent less time using abortion to divide the 
country for their own political ends and more time following Dr. 
Foster's example of fighting these problems, there would be a lot fewer 
abortions in America and we'd be a lot stronger as a country.
    We need more citizens like Henry Foster willing to commit their 
time, their energy, and love to fighting for our children, our families, 
and our future.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The President spoke at 9:06 a.m. from the Pine Bluff Convention 
Center in Pine Bluff, AR.