U.S. international AIDS programs: Now with 33% less bullshit? Well, hopefully: Via Naina at RH Reality Check comes the welcome news that Democrats are hard at work to remove funding for abstinence-only programs in PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan For for AIDS Relief).
Today, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) introduced groundbreaking legislation, the HIV Prevention Act of 2007, a bill that would remove the ideological 33 percent abstinence-until-marriage earmark from HIV prevention programs in the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The earmark is the primary culprit in denying young people in PEPFAR countries from receiving honest, comprehensive HIV prevention programs.
When Congress passed legislation establishing PEPFAR in 2003, they included a provision that an independent evaluation of the program be conducted after 3 years. Well, the resulting evaluation called on Congress to remove the abstinence-only earmark. And it looks like the Democrats are paying attention.
Meanwhile on the home front... Congress is also reconsidering its funding for domestic abstinence-only programs. But in this case, the House Labor-Human Services subcommittee is set to increase one of the funding streams for "no-sex" education by between $20-27 million. I was all excited when it appeared Title V abstinence-only funding was going to dry up, and now this? One step forward, two steps back...
SIECUS has issued the following action alert:
TELL SPEAKER PELOSI AND REPRESENTATIVE OBEY: IT IS UNCONSCIONABLE TO INCREASE FUNDING FOR ABSTINENCE-ONLY-UNTIL-MARRIAGE PROGRAMSTomorrow, Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives are poised to give the Community-Based Abstinence Education program the second largest increase in the history of this program.
TAKE ACTION NOW
- Call Speaker Nancy Pelosi at 202.225.4965 and email her at sf.nancy@mail.house.gov.
- Call the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Representative David Obey, at 202.225.2771 and email him here.Call NOW and demand NO MORE MONEY for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.
All of this made me wonder where Pelosi and Obey stand on abstinence-only. Not sure about Obey, but Pelosi seems a bit confused:
Democrats including Pelosi contend that abstinence should be taught as part of a broader sex-education curriculum.“The Speaker supports funding for both abstinence and comprehensive sexuality education,� Hammill said. “We must get at the root of the problem by reducing unintended pregnancies through sex education and access to contraception.�
The thing is, comprehensive sex ed programs DO teach abstinence -- and then they teach about what to do if abstinence fails... that would be, use contraception. Pelosi seems to have fallen into the conservative trap that the only programs that mention abstinence are the ones that discuss abstinence-only-until-marriage exclusively. Let's hope she gets the picture in time to torpedo the abstinence-only funding.
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Thank you for letting us know! This is my first time posting on this site (I love it!), but as a former (comprehensive) reproductive health educator in West Africa I just couldn't keep my mouth shut. This is horrible!
Thanks for posting this feministing. I wrote emails to Pelosi and Obey, and everyone else should too - if they can. These people are going to drag us into the dark ages if we let them. Completely horrifying and senseless. Not to mention totally disappointing.