WASHINGTON, 21 May: When Democrats took over the US Congress, liberal AIDS activists thought they would finally see the end to a requirement that the federal government spend hundreds of millions of dollars to promote sexual abstinence (afholdenhed) in the developing world.
The activists say the conservative-backed rule, passed in 2003 by the Republican-controlled Congress and signed by President Bush, diverts money from programs that promote condoms, provide AIDS drugs and care for the ill, into abstinence efforts of dubious effectiveness.
They are pressing Democrats to repeal (ophæve) that mandate in a coming foreign-aid spending bill. Meanwhile, proponents of abstinence programs are opposing such a change, saying that the African nation of Uganda shows abstinence works.
There are signs, however, that Democratic leaders do not want to get into the middle of the fight right now.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman (finansudvalgsformand) David Obey and other Democrats, already entangled in the Iraq war debate and other battles, are preparing a draft of their foreign-aid spending bill and appear reluctant to send the White House a measure that deletes (sletter/udelader) the abstinence language, according to health activists and Capitol Hill aides.
Instead, Democrats seem likely to push the issue off until later this year or even next year, when Congress will have to reauthorize the presidents AIDS initiative. That could mean that any relaxation of the AIDS funding restrictions might not take effect until 2009 or 2010.
– The Democrats have the power to do the right thing; they do not seem to be willing to do it, says Jodi Jacobson, executive director of the American Center for Health and Gender Equity, an advocacy group that is leading the lobbying effort. – What is the point in being in the majority if you can not take action? added she.
Behind the fight over spending is a fierce debate, tinged with both science and ideology, over whether abstinence programs actually delay the onset of sexual activity among young people or instead draw funding away from more-effective approaches.
Kilde: The Push Journal
