E-drug: US Abortion Politics and Global Fund
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From UN wire 6 March 2003
HIV/AIDS: US Abortion Politics Said To Hinder Bush's $15 Billion
Package
A political divide among U.S. lawmakers over abortion funding is
hampering U.S. President George W. Bush's $15 billion global
HIV/AIDS plan, the New York Times reports today. Initially
expected to pass through Congress easily, the Bush plan remains
held up over dollar amounts to give to the U.N.-created Global Fund
to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria and whether the proposed
funding would benefit overseas health clinics offering abortion.
Regarding funding, the White House wants to spend $200 million
this year on the Global Fund with the rest to come later, while some
congressional Democrats want initial funding up to $1 billion.
On the abortion issue, Bush has come under pressure from
anti-abortion advocates who urged him to extend a federal policy
barring funds from going to abortion clinics to HIV/AIDS clinics that
also offer or promote abortions. Bush's compromise solution was to
grant money to health clinics that perform both services, while
insisting on accounting measures to ensure that U.S. dollars fund
only HIV/AIDS care, not abortions.
Some U.S. lawmakers want to make the policy into law, but others
fear that a congressional debate over the thorny question of
abortion could set Bush's initiative back further.
"I want the AIDS bill to pass," said Representative Henry Hyde, a
conservative Republican and staunch anti-abortion advocate. "And I
think misdirected attention to other issues might overly burden the
AIDS bill" (Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times, March 6).
Dr. Leela McCullough
Director of Information Services
SATELLIFE
30 California Street, Watertown, MA 02472, USA
Tel: +617-926-9400 Fax: +617-926-1212
Email: leela@usa.healthnet.org
Web: http://www.healthnet.org
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