
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 3, 1995                   TAG: 9502030092
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

SURGEON GENERAL PICK ANNOUNCED

Anticipating opposition, President Clinton asked ``thoughtful conservatives'' Thursday to give a fair hearing to his nominee for surgeon general, a Tennessee doctor who supports abortion rights and distributing condoms to youths.

Dr. Henry Foster Jr. would replace Dr. Joycelyn Elders, the pediatrician from Arkansas who was fired in December after saying schools should consider teaching children about masturbation.

One conservative critic dismissed Foster as ``Elders-lite.'' But White House officials said they expect him to win confirmation by a solid bipartisan majority despite such resistance.

Foster, 61, who battled teen-age pregnancy in Nashville housing projects and headed a traditionally black medical college, was introduced in an Oval Office ceremony. His formal nomination will go to the Senate in the next few days, offering newly empowered Republicans a chance to subject a major Clinton appointee to heavy scrutiny.

Clinton, who called Foster ``a top-flight medical professional,'' charged him with heading a national campaign to combat teen-age pregnancy.

The announcement was praised by the American Medical Association, Planned Parenthood and Dr. Louis Sullivan, director of Health and Human Services under President Bush.

by CNB