CONGRESS WATCH: A Question of Courage

President Clinton’s embattled nominee for surgeon general now has a chance to win confirmation in the Senate. Dr. Henry W. Foster Jr. could prevail despite his support for legal abortion if Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole has the courage to bring the vote to the floor.

Presidential ambitions influence Dole, who has been lukewarm to Foster. The doctor’s nomination to a post for which he is eminently qualified has been hindered by his admission that he has performed legal abortions.

Dole seized on an inconsistency generated by Foster, an obstetrician-gynecologist who initially acknowledged performing one abortion and subsequently reported participating in 39. Lost in that furor was focus on Foster’s outstanding credentials--credentials that would serve him well in the surgeon general post.

Foster has run a successful program to combat teen-age pregnancy that be as a national model. He has also preached sexual abstinence, an especially important message for teen-agers. But instead, most of Congress has zeroed in on the highly partisan controversy.

If Foster’s nomination gets to the floor of the Senate, another senator with presidential ambitions, Phil Gramm (R-Tex.), has threatened to start a filibuster. That would provide no illumination in this debate.

Dole still wants to talk to the doctor before he allows the Senate to vote. That’s appropriate. After that conversation, the majority leader should show what kind of leader he is by bringing Foster’s nomination up for a vote.