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The Dark Stain On George Bush's HIV/AIDS Policy

Christian Patterson |
April 25, 2013 | 5:06 p.m. PDT

Columnist

Bush's Global Gag Rule cut funding for lifesaving practices. (Image Editor, Creative Commons)
Bush's Global Gag Rule cut funding for lifesaving practices. (Image Editor, Creative Commons)
The launch of the George W. Bush Presidential Library signals the beginning of the Bush restoration campaign. Allies of the 43rd President have already stated that they intend to return his name to good standing in the eyes of the American people, and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) will likely be at the center of these efforts.

While PEPFAR has already saved an estimated 1.1 million lives through the provision of HIV/AIDS medications to people in Africa, Bush’s record on the disease is not without blemishes. PEPFAR often overshadows one of the more disastrous areas of his policy while president; the restoration of the Global Gag Rule. This reinstated Reagan-era policy eliminated funding for nongovernmental organizations that provide information about abortion and in doing so cut life-saving services for countless women.

The assistance that the Gag Rule took from these organizations had a much larger reach than their pocketbooks. By making them ineligible for U.S. assistance, it prevented them from distributing U.S.-funded contraceptives and using the unique expertise these groups have in educating the public about safer sexual practices.

Condoms, counseling and information about safe sex go a long way towards preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS in the United States. However, they are invaluable in regions of the world where men often rape infants and young girls in the hope that it will cure them of AIDS.

PEPFAR funds drugs that treat HIV/AIDS but because there is no cure for the disease, PEPFAR recipients will be dependent on medication for the rest of their lives. And even medical assistance won’t prevent them from feeling the debilitating effects that AIDS can have on the body. Sexual education that prevents the spread of the virus in the first place is therefore a much more effective way to improve people's quality of life.

The arguments over the Gag Rule obviously encompass more than a discussion of HIV/AIDS. Abortion is a very thorny issue with passionate activists on both sides of the debate. What is important to note about the Gag Rule is that regardless of whether it is implemented or not, no federal funds go towards abortion. U.S. law already prohibits that.

And regardless of what you think you know about the “War on Women”, and the contraception debate domestically, the term “reproductive freedom” takes on an entirely new meaning when it comes to Africa, where most of the NGOs affected by the Gag Rule function.

In certain regions of the continent, women aren’t fighting for the choice to terminate a pregnancy, they’re fighting for the right to decide “when, where, with whom and how sex will take place.” This is the battle that family planning clinics are using their educational resources to engage in. Information about reproductive freedom and safer sex practices both advance the rights of women within these societies and prevent them from being infected with a disease they didn’t ask for.

President Bush’s restoration of the Gag Rule hampered the continuation of these activities and severely undermined the fight against HIV/AIDS. This is an important lesson to keep in mind next time you hear someone exalt his record on the disease.

 

Reach Columnist Christian Patterson here; follow him here.



 

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