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New Emergency AIDS Relief Plan Would Fund Abortion and Prostitution Groups

WASHINGTON, DC, February 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pro-life and pro-family groups in the U.S. are crying foul after a proposal to alter the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which is scheduled for review in the House Committee on Foreign Relations on Thursday, February 14.

Members of Congress and community leaders will hold a press conference 90 minutes before the House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting.  The conference will underscore the importance and success of the current PEPFAR policy programs and highlight provisions in the Democrat rewrite that threaten to destroy the popular, successful HIV/AIDS program. 

In his 2008 State of the Union, President Bush said "Our Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is treating 1.4 million people.  We can bring healing and hope to many more.  So I ask you to maintain the principles that have changed behavior and made this program a success."

Instead, a draft by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-California) seeks to radically change or abandon the principles of this widely successful program. The radical rewrite will pour billions into the hands of abortion providers with little or no regard for the pro-life, pro-family cultures of recipient countries.  It also strips provisions that ensure priority funding for the highly effective abstinence and fidelity programs, which have reduced HIV rates in African nations that have implemented it. The Democrat proposal also strips the provision that forbids grants to groups that do not have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking - a provision designed to combat exploitation of women in recipient countries. 

President Bush's PEPFAR program is the largest commitment ever by any nation for an international health initiative dedicated to a single disease.  To date, PEPFAR has worked to support life-saving antiretroviral treatment for over 1.45 million men, women and children worldwide, including 1.3 million in the 15 focus countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Caribbean - compared to an estimated 50,000 at the time President Bush originally announced the initiative.  Additionally, the program has lead to the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission services for women during more than 10 million pregnancies. 

"Abstinence education, which has proven effective in target countries in reducing HIV/AIDS, would be removed.  Providers of HIV/AIDS preventive services would be required to refer for family planning services, which may include abortion, thus cutting faith-based groups from participation.  This would force American taxpayers to fund groups that commit abortions overseas," stated Wendy Wright, President of CWA.

Pro-life activists are urging pro-lifers everywhere to contact the members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and encourage them to vote against Lantos' bill. Contact info for the members can be found here: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/members.asp?committee=full&subnav=subcom...

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