Barack Obama has plans to put US global AIDS policy on a different path, leaving abstinence-only requirements for funding in the dust. The co-chair of his advisory committee for women's health said that the president-elect is committed to "changing the policies so that family-planning services — both in the US and the developing world — reflect what works, what helps prevent unintended pregnancy, reduce maternal and infant mortality, prevent the spread of disease."
Conversely, on the first day of his presidency, George W. Bush reinstated the "Mexico City Policy," which denies US funding to international groups that perform abortions, provide counseling or referral for abortions, or lobby to make abortion available. The gag order applies to those who use non-US funding to support abortions, too. As a result, many organizations in Africa lost funding, thus, losing means to provide contraception to prevent pregnancy and the transfer of HIV.
Barack Obama's step away from abstinence-only programs and toward a more inclusive approach still keeps US policy a far cry away from teaching sex-ed to kindergartners. Do you think lifting the gag order is the best way to stop the global spread of HIV/AIDS?
Vertbaudet
Dessous
Graeme Black
I think any gag on information that can save lives and prevent infection is an unnecessary gag.
1Of course it is, and I think that lifting the ban is not even something we should applaud Obama for, it's what he HAS to do. Everything that goes from there is progress, lifting this ban is just a necessary step in bringing certain US policies on par with 21st century scientific and ethics standards.
2Good to hear.
3Whether you're pro/con abstinence, I think it's wise to acknowledge the fact that at the moment, kids have sex. Ignoring this would just encourage HIV spread.
Absolutely! People need to be aware of ALL the options in order to make the best decision for him or herself.
4YES! so glad to hear this. i hadn't really thought about bush's policies on AIDS in a while - what a dolt. just one more thing to add to the list of things he royally screwed up while in office: doing everything he could to prevent the spread of AIDS in africa. ugh.
5yes of course!
6YES! I couldn't have said it better, hypnoticmix.
7YES! I couldn't have said it better, hypnoticmix.
8Crap, why did that happen twice??
9Absolutely! It is about time.
10Thank you Jesus, this is a step int he right direction, maybe children won't be forced to become parents to their brothers and sisters anymore.
11One thing to make me confident that I made the right choice on November 4, here's looking forward to many more.
12I agree with Hypno. This just makes me more excited to hear about Obama's other plans.
13THANK GOODNESS. This is fantastic news... now make sure our own country isnt relying on abstinence only education and I'll be thrilled.
14Okay, the thing is Bush's policy to address the global spread of the AIDS virus has been very successful and will be a strong legacy of his career. I'm not the hugest fan of President W. Bush either. However, the rate of new AIDS infections in Africa especially has dramatically reduced due, in part, to this program.
A large part of the AIDS epidemic in Africa is due to promiscuity. It is unsafe in so many ways in every culture but especially where poverty is rampant and individual lives are so fleeting. If there could be any change it would be in education-- teaching people that respecting one another is the best way. Abstinence is a way to respect yourself- your health both physically and emotionally. But even past that faithfulness to your spouse is a way to respect yourself, your spouse and protect the health of both. If those values grow then the AIDS epidemic will shrink.
But even better would be to pair that with humanitarian aid. The life expectancy in these countries is so low even without AIDS. Address poverty, tribal conflicts and other safety and quality of life issues and hopefully there can be a fundamental change in what life looks like for all people in Africa.
15Sorry I took that in a different direction, but when I hear global AIDS epidemic I naturally think of Africa.
16It's nice to see someone actually separating church and state - governing for the benefit of society, not for more halo points! (and I personally believe in abstinence until marriage - I just happen to think it is useless to force my religious beliefs on the whole country, especially when they result in more harm then good).
17I think this a HUGE step in the right direction. To inform people of the different options is the right thing to do. We can't expect everyone to all follow the same path
18saucymegstar, the problem with only promoting abstinence is that it takes two people to have sex. You can be as committed to your spouse as possible, but if they aren't equally committed to you, then who knows what kind of things they are bringing home to you. I am not saying that abstinence shouldn't be taught, because it is certainly a good way to reduce the transmission of STDs. But when we're talking about something like AIDS, we need to throw everything at it we can and not impose arbitrary rules on what can be taught/funded and what can't.
19kscincotta [+] : Agreed. In this day and age and considering the statistics, it's incredibly naive to think abstinence-only education would do anything to help the AIDS epidemic, especially on the African continent. It's naive to believe abstinence-only education is even working here. The typical Blue States have lower rates of teen pregnancy, stds, and divorce that nearly all the Bible belt, Red States. It has a lot to do with educating people and when you educate them about something as serious as AIDS, NOTHING should be left out.
"If those values grow then the AIDS epidemic will shrink. " That's just plain offensive. I was an African studies major in college, I've lived in South Africa and if you've read a lot of colonial literature then you'll see how much the colonists thought of the native Africans as immoral and promiscuous. Making a blanket statement about a massive continent of incredibly different and complex countries like they are all immoral and bad people is just wrong. We're never going to get people to be abstinent 100% of the time, even in this country. That's why contraceptives are key. People need to know how to protect themselves.
20definitely! go obama! woot!
21Reading about what Obama wants to change reminds me of how ridiculous Bush's policies have been. It's like it's been so long, I've forgotten how mad I should be about a President who thinks it's okay for him to be the World Sex Police.
22"it's incredibly naive to think abstinence-only education would do anything to help the AIDS epidemic, especially on the African continent..."
Ummm... didn't saucy pretty much state that the rate of infection in Africa is going down due to those programs? I'd say that's a pretty direct cause and effect, but I - admittedly - don't know much about the issue.
23Thank goodness. Finally. There is nothing wrong with teaching/discussing abstinence, but it should not be all that is taught.
24Thank God. Preaching abstinence instead of safe sex was one of the stupidest ideas ever
25"Ummm... didn't saucy pretty much state that the rate of infection in Africa is going down due to those programs? I'd say that's a pretty direct cause and effect, but I - admittedly - don't know much about the issue."
Where is the source please? And I would think there isn't a direct cause and effect, there are a lot of programs going on right now that could take credit for a supposedly decrease in AIDS infections. People pick apart massive amounts of scientific data about the link between human actions and global warming and can see no 'direct cause and effect' but let's just assume that abstinence only education has the direct effect for supposedly reducing AIDS infections. Some consistency in reasoning would be nice.
26Oh, thank you United States for giving more humanitarian aid than any other country in the world.
27Zeze - I appreciate your point of view!
28It is awesome that you can have strong personal convictions but don't feel that they need to be enforced on others.
Yes. The more knowledge people have, the better equipped they are to protect themselves against this very preventable disease.
29Thank God someone has sense. In AIDS prevention, the emphasis should be on saving lives and stopping the spread of disease, not on ideological battles!!
30Overall the best thing to do is to educate people about sexuality and the risks. Don't just tell people not to do something. I think it is important for all people to know what their options are and the risks are when engaging in sex. I am so anti-abstinence ONLY education it's ridiculous. I think all the options need to be out there, not just to abstain from sexual encounters.
31YAY!!! So happy with my Nov 4th decision! This is definitely moving in the right direction...
Sorry Saucy, I don't buy it until you can find a source about that supposed statistic. Couldn't it just be that infection levels are so high they really can't get any worse, and therefore have leveled off? Or that other countries outside of the US are actually helping in the effort now to? What if there's another country pouring aid into education about prevention at the same time we're teaching abstinence, that would probably skew the statistic too...
True Song - World Sex Police... Hee hee..
32WOW -- this is a no brainer -- absolutely get rid of that ban.
33I was furious with the ban in the first place. I say lift it baby, lift it!
34Sorry about the lack of citation. For more information on the international initiative to combat AIDS see this site: http://www.pepfar.gov/
It is an initiative to treat existing AIDS cases and to work on prevention especially in high-risk areas such as Africa.
I am in no way against programs that educate about birth control. I just want men and women BOTH to respect themselves enough to make wise choices. Letting women know that they can say no to sex and that they can in that way prevent a good number of the diseases and unwanted pregnancies. Men as well, but the emphasis has to be a bit different. And promoting fidelity as a virtue. I know, I know it's pie-in-the-sky optimism-- people cheat. That doesn't mean we cannot teach to the ideals.
I do support not giving government funding to agencies that provide abortions. I personally do not want my tax dollars going to that. An unfortunate consequence of that does seem to be that agencies that provide other types of support as well lost funding. I'm sure there can be ways around that-- restructuring maybe? Have a different agency for the education and prevention than the medical clinic?
35"maybe children won't be forced to become parents to their brothers and sisters anymore."
36GS she was talking about mothers and fathers dying from AIDS and their older children having to parent the younger children.
37Why wouldn't we want to give people in Africa and other countries the medicine they need, the contraceptives they need, and the information they need? Oh, maybe b/c our government doesn't even want its own citizens to have it.
38As someone who has spent a lot of time in recent years advocating for changes to PEPFAR (including this one) I'm thrilled. While Bush was not the worst president in terms of AIDS he work was far from good and what's necessary (that is a fact you can check with pretty much any legitimate aids advocacy group) PEPFAR was littered with policies that hindered its effectiveness including the abstinence stipulation.
39I don't see how any one thing could be attributed to the decrease in incidence of AIDS globally. Many things have been at work for many years to combat this problem that to credit one recent program for the success is naive.
" I do support not giving government funding to agencies that provide abortions. I personally do not want my tax dollars going to that." I don't want my tax dollars going to an endless war in Iraq and a bailout of irresponsible corporations, but we can't pick and choose. And most agencies that provide abortions also provide services that help prevent abortions such as free birth control and counseling.
40I think this is FANTASTIC!
41I went to hear someone who worked at the world bank talked on this recently only last week! Nowadays in many countries around the world there is problem people have HIV but they don't have AIDS. Drugs are so good now that Aids is kept at bay. People with HIV infects others because they are not frightened of AIDS anymore and people become careless and have sex without protection because the image of people dying of Aids is a thing of the past now. HIV is the new problem not Aids and talking about sex is the way to go.
42YEP prevention is the key Obama is a wise man
43By the way if anyone is interested here is a great book "a wisdom of wh*re" I went to see her talk in London and i was left very impress. I think she's nailed the whole thing and she's very funny and humble.
44sorry it is called the wisdom(with s i think) of the wh*res. I think you will love it citizensugar
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