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 Thanks to a bipartisan compromise, the Global Anti-AIDS bill being considered by the U.S. Senate today protects effective abstinence and faithfulness programs while protecting the conscience rights of religious organizations to accept funding without engaging in programs which violate their religious beliefs (ex: Catholic charities would not be forced to distribute condoms). The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops supports the legislation and the Bush Administration supports the bill and intends to sign it into law.
The amazing results seen in Uganda demonstrate the effectiveness of abstinence and faithfulness training as well as the importance of the involvement of religious organizations in fighting AIDS and other diseases in impoverished countries.
The Rev. Sam L. Ruteikara, the co-chair of Uganda's
National AIDS-Prevention Committee, writes a
moving piece in the Washington Post, showing that abstinence and faithfulness
programs work and calling on politically correct Westerners to stop forcing
condoms only programs on the suffering people of Sub Saharan Africa.
Uganda cut dramatically cut its AIDS infection rate
from 26% in 1991 to 6% in 2002, and is a living testament to the effectiveness
of abstinence and faithfulness education.
Westerners should not recreate a new form of colonialism by imposing
their secular values on Africa. The
president’s original PEPFAR funding initiative, which protects abstinence and
faithfulness programs, should be preserved.
Robert Knight comments on Ruteikara’s piece and on
the Post’s bias against effective AIDS prevention measures in his pieces at
Townhall entitled “Post
Tells the Truth on 'Safe Sex' -- Then Ignores It.”
CitizenLink reports. Unfortunately the U.S. Senate recessed for
the Fourth of July without approving this crucial funding.
Rebecca
Hagelin reports. Excerpt:
Who could argue with the idea that, when it
comes to sex education, our teenagers should be taught to say “no”? Considering
what’s at stake (their health, their future, their dignity as human beings,
their morality) -- and because we love them and want what’s best for them --
nothing short of a clear-cut abstinence message will do.
At least, that’s how it appears out here in
the Real World. In the rarified air of a congressional hearing room, it’s
another matter. According to several witnesses (including John Santelli of the
Guttmacher Institute, and Max Siegel of the AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth
& Families) who spoke recently before the House Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, abstinence education is not only impractical, it’s
dangerous.
Read
full
article here.
Read
the Heritage Foundation’s study on the effectiveness of
abstinence education here.
AdvanceUSA
thanks Sen. Browback for defending
abstinence education in hearings being held today in the House of
Representatives. Excerpt:
"Studies have shown that abstinence
education is effective in decreasing the number of teen pregnancy and rates of
sexually transmitted diseases among youth," said Brownback. "Clearly
our current approach to sex education is not working; STD rates among teens are
rising, and it is irresponsible of us to silence the abstinence message. We
need more funding for abstinence programs, not less. Cutting funding to such
valuable programs will only have negative results as we see teens, and even
pre-teens, engage in risky sexual behavior."
Click here for
more.
Janice
Shaw Crouse explains how recent encouraging trends in teen pregnancy rates shows
the value of abstinence education despite what proponents of so-called “comprehensive
sex education” would have us believe.
Excerpt:
There is still much to be done in changing
attitudes and promoting the well-being of America’s young people, but teen
sexual activity is down, teen pregnancies are down and teen abortions are down.
That is great news from the cultural battle fields.
Over the past decade, we have offered our
nation’s teens a bright future and expected the best from them. Not
surprisingly, they have met the challenge and are seizing the opportunities to
grasp all the possibilities available to their generation. Our national
leadership needs to continue to keep faith with them by supporting abstinence education
as clearly the best choice for their current and future well-being.
Her
insight is very timely and relevant as Congress will soon hold hearings on
whether to maintain abstinence education funding in the budget as LifeNews
reports. Excerpt:
The House Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform plans the hearing for April 23 to supposedly review the
effectiveness of abstinence education.
However, leading abstinence critic Henry
Waxman will chair the panel.
He has repeatedly gone after abstinence
programs with wild-eyed claims that they are rife with inaccurate medical data
and unrealistic expectations.
Waxman has invited five witnesses to take
the anti-abstinence side in support of comprehensive sex education and just one
abstinence proponent.
The
House of Representatives has approved
a version of PEPFAR anti-AIDS funding that is much improved from the original
version which would have mandated abortion funding, drastically cut back
abstinence and faithfulness education, and weakened anti-prostitution
provisions. Though significant
improvements have been made to the bill, not all conservatives support the
measure because of fiscal concerns over massive spending increases and concerns
that there is insufficient accountability over how funds are spent. The bill will now go to the U.S. Senate.
Barack
Obama referred to being “punished with a baby” when confronted with a pro-life
Democrat in Pennsylvania recently. Obama
also disparaged abstinence education at the event. Politico
has the details.
Janice
Shaw Crouse, Ph.D., has a helpful column today about the
importance and effectiveness of abstinence education and explains why
radical leftist organizations and politicians are so determined to eliminate it
completely. Congress should increase
abstinence education funding, not cut it.
Read Crouse’s
article for more details. Excerpts:
It is incomprehensible that leaders of
organizations working with teens would oppose abstinence. The increase in abstinence programs has been
effective in reversing trends that some believed were irreversible. It is clear from my analysis of official data
that abstinence education is behind the current decreases in teen births, teen
abortion and the number of teens engaged in sexual activity.
While the left claims that abstinence
education is a too-simplistic “just say no” campaign, the programs teach teens
how to say “no” and give them the skills and character development needed for
them to be able to say “no” effectively.
And many teens need to learn that sexually active girls regret their
early sexual activity — nearly two-thirds (63 percent) state that they wish
they had waited to have sex.
…
Many teens don’t know the facts, and the
comprehensive sex education programs do not inform them. A Maryland teenager, Stephen, was part of a
conversation with friends who claimed that “everyone is doing it.” Stephen told them that, statistically, teens
today are less sexually active. They
were surprised; they had not heard that important fact in their so-called
“full-coverage” sex education program.
Stephen summed up our view when he asked,
“Don’t you think our sex ed programs should tell us that more and more teens
are choosing to stay abstinent and how they are doing it?”
CitizenLink
reports. Excerpt:
“With
3 million teen girls infected with STIs, safer sex in adolescents does not
exist,” said Linda Klepacki, sexual health analyst for Focus on the Family
Action. “For the current and future health of teens, we must teach them how to
have strong relationships not based on sex.”
The
American Journal of Health
Behavior published a study in January showing that students who
receive abstinence education are 50 percent less likely to initiate sex.
Furthermore, last
year’s report by the federal Department of Health and Human Services showed
that some comprehensive sex-education curricula taught in the nation's schools
essentially have no impact on behavior.
Valerie
Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association,
said it is important to look at the growing body of research showing abstinence
education as the only curriculum that successfully addresses teen pregnancies,
STIs and the emotional consequences of teen sex.
Dr. Miriam Grossman, M.D. takes an insightful look at the recent statistics regarding female STD rates and uses her professional experience to explain some of the educational factors contributing to this crisis. Excerpt:
That so many American girls have a sexually transmitted infection should come as no shock. Rather, the shock should be at the madness in our country that we call sexuality education.
LifeNews reports. Furthermore, our friends in the House tell us
that abstinence and faithfulness education will still be supported, and they
are convinced that language allowing abortion promoting organizations to receive
taxpayer dollars has been fully eliminated.
Our thanks
to all who made their voice heard on this issue. Also, special thanks to Rep. Chris Smith
(R-NJ), Chairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus, for his tireless efforts to address
the pro-life and pro-family concerns with PEPFAR.
Rep. Chris Smith
(R-NJ)
The
bi-partisan PEFAR anti-AIDS funding legislation is being marked up right now. To watch the hearings via live streaming
check the website
of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and click on the “Live Webcast” link
in the lower right margin or click
here.
Listening
in around 11:30 one could hear Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) give an excellent
defense of abstinence and faithfulness education for combating the global
spread of AIDS. Let’s hope that no tax
dollars will go to support abortions under this bill.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee will vote on PEPFAR anti-AIDS funding reauthorization on Thursday, February 28. Call your representative today (especially if they serve on this committee) and urge him or her to vote against the PEPFAR legislation unless pro-abortion code words like “family panning” and “reproductive health” are removed and abstinence education and anti-prostitution language is maintained. LifeNews reports on the abortion funding aspect while the AP reports on President Bush’s statements urging lawmakers to preserve crucial abstinence and faithfulness funding.
Click here for more information on PEPFAR or check the AdvanceUSA home page.
AdvanceUSA
has learned from friends in the House of Representatives that the Foreign
Affairs Committee hearings on PEPFAR have been postponed until the “week of February
25.”
 AdvanceUSA has learned that Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) passed away this morning from lung cancer complications. AdvanceUSA expresses its condolences to the family of Congressman Lantos, and is thankful for his willingness to serve his nation in Congress. The House Foreign Affairs Committee (which Lantos chaired) will likely postpone Thursday's hearing on PEPFAR until leadership and membership changes are made to the committee.
AdvanceUSA will continue to monitor the PEPFAR issue, and is encouraged that President Bush has indicated his opposition to the bill until the abortion and abstinence policy changes are removed.
As
the AP reports, proposed changes to PEPFAR funding would side-step the crucial
Mexico City Policy allowing
tax dollars to support overseas abortions.
The AP report also mentions that the Lantos bill would undermine
ant-prostitution regulations and withhold funding from successful abstinence
and faithfulness anti-AIDS education.
The
Foreign Affairs Committee will likely vote on PEPFAR on Thursday, February
14. Be sure to contact
members of this committee and urge them to preserve the crucial pro-life
and pro-morality provisions PEPFAR.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee markup for PEPFAR originally scheduled today has been postponed to next week. As currently written, the legislation undermines effective abstinence programs and mandates taxpayer support of overseas abortions. FRC has provided a helpful list of committee members. If your representative is in this list, be sure to encourage him or her to oppose any provisions which undermine the Mexico City Policy, allow tax dollars to support overseas abortion providers or proponents, undermine anti-prostitution regulations, or weakens support for successful abstinence and faithfulness education programs. If these concerns are not met, your representative should be encouraged to oppose the underlying bill. For more information on this issue check the PEPFAR blurb.
Liberals in Congress should stop endangering critical AIDS funding with attempts to advance their anti-life, liberal social agenda.
The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which was begun in 2003, has bipartisan support on Capitol Hill and will be up for renewal this year. Unfortunately, there is an aggressive push by liberals to disregard current stipulations that mandate funding for the “AB” (“abstinence” and “be faithful”) portion of “ABC” education (“C” = condoms). The new efforts would allow funding for “reproductive health” (a.k.a “abortion”) and ease the regulations that require groups receiving PEPFAR funds to pledge opposition to prostitution. The liberals claim to want only to fund “what works” despite the mounting evidence that teaching abstinence and faithfulness (as is done in Uganda) and taking a strong stance against prostitution are the most effective ways to combat the spread of the dreaded AIDS virus. Also, Americans should not have to subsidize overseas abortions with their tax dollars so Congress should be wary of allowing funds for “reproductive health” purposes as this is a broad term used by liberals to promote abortion.
Our friends in Congress tell us that PEPFAR will likely be considered by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on February 7. If your representative sits on this committee call him or her today and encourage them to be sure to 1. attend the February 7 hearings, 2. voice their support for abstinence funding and anti-prostitution efforts, 3. oppose taxpayer funded “reproductive health” (abortion), and 4. vote against any amendments which would weaken these crucial provisions.
 Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) recently proposed an amendment to the Labor HHS appropriations bill which would have “prohibit[ed] the use of funds to provide abstinence education that includes information that is medically inaccurate.” The “medical accuracy” strategy actually puts unreasonable burdens on abstinence curriculum and would end federal abstinence education as we know it if enacted. Fortunately Sen. Lautenberg decided to remove his amendment, but there is concern among our friends on the Hill that this dangerous amendment could be reintroduced in the future.
One of the reasons liberals oppose abstinence education is the fact that less promiscuity directly threatens the profits of abortion providers and “comprehensive” sex education advocates like Planned Parenthood.
These observations were made by Heritage Foundation scholar Robert Rector whose report entitled “Facts about Abstinence Education” makes a compelling and factual case for abstinence education.
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