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  <updated>2008-08-07T15:55:48-05:00</updated>
  <entry>
    <title>Religious Right’s Efforts to Influence Bush&#039;s Global AIDS Policy</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-right%E2%80%99s-efforts-influence-bushs-global-aids-policy" />
    <id>http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-right%E2%80%99s-efforts-influence-bushs-global-aids-policy</id>
    <published>2006-07-07T16:43:23-05:00</published>
    <updated>2008-08-07T15:55:48-05:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Ezra</name>
    </author>
    <category term="Reproductive Health" />
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<p>The term &ldquo;abstinence&rdquo; has become a   point of confusion&mdash;while educators in the U.S. incorporate an abstinence   message, along with safer sex messages, into comprehensive sex[ ] education, many groups on the Right use   the term to mean abstinence-only education, which excludes other messages they   say would conflict with abstinence. And these abstinence-only programs often   actively discourage other messages: Abstinence-only funding by the Bush   administration has provided for teaching public-school students &ldquo;that abortion   can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the   United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a   person's genitals &lsquo;can result in pregnancy,&rsquo;&quot; according to a 2004 <a title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26623-2004Dec1.html" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26623-2004Dec1.html">report</a> by House Democrats. And an abstinence-only program <a title="http://www.takeissuetakecharge.org/blog/index.php?/archives/4-Cool-in-the-Eyes-of-God.html" href="http://www.takeissuetakecharge.org/blog/index.php?/archives/4-Cool-in-the-Eyes-of-God.html">in   Louisiana</a> told students that, &ldquo;The condom's biggest flaw is that those using   it to prevent the conception of another human being are offending   God.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Less visible is a similar effort by   the Religious Right to change the way international aid is spent in preventing   HIV/AIDS in Africa and elsewhere by   emphasizing abstinence over condoms. </p>
    ]]></summary>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>The term &ldquo;abstinence&rdquo; has become a   point of confusion&mdash;while educators in the U.S. incorporate an abstinence   message, along with safer sex messages, into comprehensive sex[ ] education, many groups on the Right use   the term to mean abstinence-only education, which excludes other messages they   say would conflict with abstinence. And these abstinence-only programs often   actively discourage other messages: Abstinence-only funding by the Bush   administration has provided for teaching public-school students &ldquo;that abortion   can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the   United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a   person's genitals &lsquo;can result in pregnancy,&rsquo;&quot; according to a 2004 <a title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26623-2004Dec1.html" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26623-2004Dec1.html">report</a> by House Democrats. And an abstinence-only program <a title="http://www.takeissuetakecharge.org/blog/index.php?/archives/4-Cool-in-the-Eyes-of-God.html" href="http://www.takeissuetakecharge.org/blog/index.php?/archives/4-Cool-in-the-Eyes-of-God.html">in   Louisiana</a> told students that, &ldquo;The condom's biggest flaw is that those using   it to prevent the conception of another human being are offending   God.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Less visible is a similar effort by   the Religious Right to change the way international aid is spent in preventing   HIV/AIDS in Africa and elsewhere by   emphasizing abstinence over condoms.<br />
A year ago, <em>Rolling Stone</em> <a title="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/7371950/an_epidemic_failure/" href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/7371950/an_epidemic_failure/">reported</a> that</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Ambassador   Randall Tobias, who serves as Bush's global AIDS czar, issued written guidelines   in January that spell out the administration's agenda. Groups that receive   U.S. funding, Tobias warned, should   not target youth with messages that present abstinence and condoms as &quot;equally   viable, alternative choices.&quot; &hellip;</em></p>
<p><em>Groups that   support the president's religious agenda, meanwhile, are beginning to receive   money that has traditionally been devoted to more experienced organizations. The   Children's AIDS Fund, a well-connected conservative organization, received   roughly $10 million last fall to promote abstinence-only programs overseas --   even though the group was deemed &quot;not suitable for funding&quot; by an expert review   panel. FreshMinistries, a Florida organization with little experience in   tackling AIDS, also received $10 million. &quot;Bush has enacted policies that will   redirect millions of dollars away from groups that have experience fighting HIV   and AIDS and toward groups that don't but are members of his religious   constituency,&quot; says Cohen.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>More recently, the <em>Baltimore Sun</em> <a title="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.abstinence10dec10,1,4032455.story?coll=bal-home-headlines" href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.abstinence10dec10,1,4032455.story?coll=bal-home-headlines">reported</a> on a Bush administration directive that two-thirds of global AIDS-prevention   money go to abstinence and fidelity, which a Government Accountability Office <a title="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.abstinence10dec10,1,4032455.story?coll=bal-home-headlines" href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.abstinence10dec10,1,4032455.story?coll=bal-home-headlines">report</a> criticized as eroding other prevention efforts, including preventing   mother-child transmission and of course, condoms. In response, Sen. Dianne   Feinstein announced an effort to make funding <a title="http://feinstein.senate.gov/06releases/r-abstinence-earmark.htm" href="http://feinstein.senate.gov/06releases/r-abstinence-earmark.htm">more   flexible</a>.</p>
<p>Now, <a href="http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=3151">Concerned Women for America</a>&rsquo;s Legislative Action   Committee is biting back. The group sent out <a href="http://media.pfaw.org/Right/cwa-070606x.html">an alert</a>   yesterday:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>In 2003, in a bold effort to combat   the international crisis of AIDS, President Bush committed $15 billion to fight   the disease around the world through a program called the President's Emergency   Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The results have been astounding, and have   provided hope to millions of at-risk people around the   world.</em></p>
<p><em>By the year 2007, approximately $4   billion will go to the Abstinence, Be Faithful and only then use of condoms   (ABc) program which promotes abstinence as a key behavioral method of preventing   the spread of AIDS. The program, modeled after methods used by faith-based   organizations in the United   States, has seen a dramatic decline in the transmission of   AIDS in countries including Kenya, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia.</em></p>
<p><em>Senator Feinstein wants to end that   effort by offering an amendment to strip funding for Abstinence and Be Faithful   programs from Foreign Operations appropriations. Your Senators must hear from   you that attempts to de-fund successful AIDS prevention programs that teach   abstinence will deny those most in need of the programs that have had the best   results.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The &ldquo;ABC&rdquo; program was a famous   effort in Uganda and other countries in the 80s   and 90s&mdash;not under the Bush administration. While it is still <a title="http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/ib2004no2.html" href="http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/ib2004no2.html">not clear</a> how critical   &ldquo;ABC&rdquo; was to Uganda&rsquo;s then-success, and <a title="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/24/MNG2PBG3VF1.DTL" href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/24/MNG2PBG3VF1.DTL">researchers   are studying</a> today&rsquo;s version of the program, &ldquo;ABC&rdquo; is an example of   comprehensive public education, including both abstinence and condom-use. By the   third paragraph, Concerned Women for America even drops the letter &ldquo;c&rdquo; and   they are accusing Feinstein&rsquo;s effort to <em>preserve</em> comprehensive prevention aid of   being an effort instead to <em>end</em> &ldquo;ABC.&rdquo;</p>
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