Bush administration's opposition to commercial sex work
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Bush Administration To Require U.S. AIDS Groups Take Pledge Op-
posing Commercial Sex Work To Gain Funding
SOURCE: The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report Feb 28, 2005
The Bush administration is requiring that U.S. HIV/AIDS organi-
zations seeking funding to provide services in other countries
make a pledge opposing commercial sex work, and some Republican
lawmakers and administration officials are pushing for a similar
policy for needle-exchange programs, the Wall Street Journal re-
ports. Under the new policy, even groups whose HIV/AIDS work in
other countries has "nothing to do" with commercial sex workers
will have to make a written pledge opposing commercial sex work
or risk losing federal funding, according to the Journal. In ad-
dition, the Bush administration might refuse to fund HIV/AIDS
groups that do not accept Bush's "social agenda" on issues such
as sexual abstinence and drug use, according to the Journal. The
new policy stems from two 2003 laws, one involving HIV/AIDS
funding and another regarding sex trafficking (Phillips, Wall
Street Journal, 2/28). One measure was included as an amendment,
sponsored by Rep. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.), in the legislation
(HR 1298) that authorized the President's Emergency Plan for
AIDS Relief, the five-year, $15 billion program that directs
funding for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria to 15 focus coun-
tries. The measure prohibits funds from going to any group or
organization that does not have a policy "explicitly opposing
prostitution and sex trafficking" (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report,
4/3/03). The U.S. Department of Justice initially told the ad-
ministration that the requirement should be applied to overseas
groups only because of constitutional free speech concerns in
applying it to U.S. organizations, according to the Journal.
However, DOJ in 2004 "reversed itself" and said that the admini-
stration could apply the rule to U.S. groups, according to the
Journal.
'Harm Reduction'
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) said that although there is "conser-
vative support" for U.S. HIV/AIDS programs overseas, "there are
areas of concern... that risk the continued support from a num-
ber of conservative members and conservative groups." Many U.S.
HIV/AIDS organizations providing services in other countries are
"reluctant" to make a pledge opposing commercial sex work be-
cause the groups often work with commercial sex workers to dis-
tribute condoms and say that such pledges could lead to "offi-
cial stigmatization" of commercial sex workers that could lead
to their further isolation, according to the Journal. Some
HIV/AIDS groups favor a strategy of "harm reduction" that ac-
knowledges that some people will engage in high-risk behaviors -
- including commercial sex work and injection drug use -- and
that the best way to prevent the spread of HIV is to make those
behaviors less dangerous. U.S. officials said that some HIV/AIDS
groups that have applied for grants have agreed to sign the
pledge, but they would not identify the groups by name, accord-
ing to the Journal. Janice Crouse, a senior fellow at Concerned
Women for America, said that federal funding for international
aid programs often has gone to "left leaning groups" and that
the new Bush administration policy would "redress that imbal-
ance," according to the Journal. Susan Cohen, director of gov-
ernment affairs for the Alan Guttmacher Institute, said that the
Bush administration's new policy is "another salvo in the cam-
paign that the administration and its fellow conservatives are
undertaking to create more and more litmus tests and blacklists
of those they're willing to do business with."
Needle Exchange
Some congressional Republicans have been working to prevent fed-
eral funding from going to groups that advocate needle exchange
programs to reduce the spread of HIV among injection drug users,
with Reps. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) and Tom Davis (R-Va.) leading
the effort, according to the Journal. Brownback earlier this
month in a memo to his political allies outlined a strategy
seeking a ban on USAID grants going to any organizations that do
not "fully support" Bush's views on issues, including drug use
and sexual abstinence, the Journal reports. A "major target" of
the congressional Republican attempts to ban funding from going
to groups supporting needle exchange is the Open Society Insti-
tute, which was founded by billionaire financier George Soros,
according to the Journal. OSI supports needle-exchange programs
to reduce the spread of HIV in former Soviet Union countries.
Although Soros' aides say that no federal funding goes to OSI's
needle-exchange programs, Souder began investigating OSI after
Soros spent "millions of dollars" during the 2004 election cam-
paign to oppose Bush's re-election, the Journal reports. USAID
policy prohibits federal funding from going to needle-exchange
efforts, according to the Journal (Wall Street Journal, 2/28).
SOURCE: The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report Feb 28, 2005
Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org kaisernet-
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vice of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory
Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
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