The Senate passes PEPFAR, removes the HIV travel ban, and reinforces some ideological restrictions that should have been removed. More people will be helped, and that is good.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) took advantage of leverage far-right negotiators acquired as PEPFAR negotiations have been mishandled, and violated Senate protocol to push his ideological misinformation about abortion.
The Senate is moving closer to a vote on PEPFAR, but there is still time to fix the bill allowing the work horse of prevention to pull the cart of treatment, lightening the load by reducing the number of people infected. Congress has burdened the horse with ideology, and put the cart in front.
By Marjorie Signer, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
June 23, 2008 - 8:00am
Faith-based organizations representing a broad spectrum of religions call on our government to reauthorize PEPFAR without ideological restrictions on funding.
PEPFAR's "anti-prostitution" pledge favors strategies that are penal in character over health-based interventions that reach out to educate sex workers.
As expected, the House wrapped itself in a big red bi-partisan bow when discussing PEPFAR, and Rep. Steny Hoyer said the bill shouldn't fall prey to "political sport." Here's hoping this weekend's Final Four is more competitive than the PEPFAR reauthorization ever was.
The HIV epidemic in India needs to be fought by accessible testing, lessening stigma, widespread education, and needle exchange programs, but above all, it needs to be fought by a humane and scientific prevention program coming from the government.
As we approach our last chance to improve the PEPFAR reauthorization bill, we must ask ourselves: do we care about claiming a victory on a mediocre piece of legislation and maintaining relationships with Congress, or do we care about taking a principled stand for the needs of people around the world?
How would AIDS service organizations in American cities respond if they had to sign the anti-prostitution pledge required of PEPFAR grantees? What impact would that pledge have on Americans at risk for HIV infection?
Last month, over 8000 ob-gyns from around the world, gathered in South Africa to discuss how physicians living in countries with restrictive abortion laws can best face the challenge of caring for women suffering from complications of unsafe abortion.
One part of readiness for sexual partnership -- and it's a biggie -- is being able to hear, accept and respect another person's limits and boundaries, not just using someone else to get your rocks off.
Congressman Bart Stupak says that while he is leading the charge to eliminate abortion care from both private and public insurance policies, he will support health care reform legislation even if he loses.
A new version of the anti-choice initiative soundly defeated by Colorado voters in 2008 is making its way to the 2010 ballot. The intention? To grant cells the full spectrum of citizen rights.
"We're not violent" anti-choice extremists are holding a contest that includes asking supporters to burn Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in effigy.
Condoms are affordable, easy to use with the proper instruction, and extraordinarily effective in preventing both STDs, including HIV, and pregnancy if used consistently and correctly. Why aren't more of us using them?
October is Sex Ed Month of Action and a coalition of groups has joined together to tell Congress it’s time for the federal government to get REAL about sex education. Will your voice be heard?
The folks at NBC's long-running legal franchise Law & Order must have thought they'd garner praise for their episode on abortion. The show, however, was anything but balanced.
Law and Order failed to balance the most egregious anti-choice propaganda with anything resembling the reality of people who choose late abortion or providers who endure constant threats to honor women's personal medical decisions.
Before Anglicans can cash-in the Vatican's new express pass to convert to Catholicism the two faiths must bridge one of the biggest schisms between them: birth control.
Militant anti-choice activists are organizing an eBay auction so that fans of murdering your political opponents can buy souvenirs and help pay for the defense of Scott Roeder.
After being drugged and raped on a business trip, I received counseling and anti-HIV medications to help me survive. But to insurance companies my rape and treatment were "pre-existing conditions."
When members of the Abortion Care Network learned that NBC’s Law and Order would do a "ripped from the headlines" episode on the assassination of Dr. George Tiller, many of us were upset. Now that we have seen it, we are furious.
"Fat Talk" is a ritual with a special prominence between women, in groups or pairs, and makes it more difficult to have a rational, emotion-free relationship with diet and exercise. And that's why we need to get rid of it.
Richard Schroeder, former security guard and friend to Dr. George Tiller - the abortion provider assassinated in May of this year - was found dead in his driveway last night. His death is being reported as "very suspicious."
The White House has lifted the HIV travel ban, and the United States is no longer included in the list of only seven countries worldwide that bar HIV-positive persons from obtaining visas for entry. President Obama called it a policy "rooted in fear rather than fact."
