February 8, 2008
DRAMA ON THE HILL
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Warren surrounded by some who believe in reproductive health |
AIDS advocates were scrambling to keep an exceptionally strong global AIDS funding bill in tact this week after religious conservatives, including Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren, held a press conference on Thursday falsely stating that the legislation's reproductive health component would fund abortions.
The press conference was held on Capitol Hill in anticipation of the House Foreign Affairs Committee mark-up of legislation introduced by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The mark-up was scheduled for Thursday but was postponed until February 14, when more Democratic representatives will be present.
Led by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Thursday's press conference included Warren and six other Republican Congressmen. The group's most egregious claim concerned the proposed bill's reproductive health component.
"Democrats propose to mandate the integration of reproductive health services into PEPFAR, which would transform the program into a mega-funding pool for organizations with an abortion promotion," said Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN). In actuality, no PEPFAR money would be spent on abortion but would instead integrate essential women's health options, such as contraceptives, to HIV-positive women who want to avoid getting pregnant. Another distortion made at the press conference was that support for vulnerable populations, including sex workers, amounted to "pimping."
"It was the same old rhetoric stating that, 'this bill makes sure abortion gets a piece of the PEPFAR pie,' which is completely untrue," said Jamila Taylor, legislative and policy analyst for the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE). Taylor was one of dozens of supporters of Lantos' bill who packed the press conference, held up signs and distributed the sign-on letter signed by 100 U.S. and 60 international organizations that support the bill. Outnumbering the group resisting changes to PEPFAR were representatives of Health and Gender Equity, Unitarian Universalists, American Jewish World Service (AJWS), Health GAP, Catholic Relief Services and International Women's Health Coalition.
"When there is maternal mortality due to unprotected sex, I find it very, very immoral that they are lying through their teeth," said Jodi Jacobson, director of advocacy for the American Jewish World Service.
A better bill
HIV/AIDS advocates have been working for months on the reauthorization of PEPFAR. The current draft of the bill has many notable improvements, including an end to the abstinence-only-till-marriage HIV-prevention earmark, an increase to $50 billion in funding over five years, and a repeal of the U.S.'s shameful HIV-immigration ban.
But as Thursday's press conference showed, not everyone in Congress supports the new PEPFAR. AIDS advocates are reaching out to both sides of the aisle to find out what it will take to get Lantos' bill passed. The AIDS Institute attended a meeting this week with abstinence-until-marriage crusader Rep. Tom Coburn (R-OK). "The Senate and House committee staffs want to come up with a bipartisan, bicameral piece of legislation," Sykes told the Update.
Although the bill could have enough votes to pass with just Democratic support, the Democrats want a bipartisan bill, David Bryden of the Global AIDS Alliance said. He believes Lantos' current bill won't receive Republican support and changes will have to be made. "Some phrases are real hot-button issues, and it's important to pass a bill with as much bipartisan support as possible," he said.
Talk of bipartisan support and changes worries AJWS director Jacobson. "There are numerous folks who are expressing panic if we don't create a bipartisan bill before the mark-up," said Jacobson, a long-time HIV/AIDS and reproductive health advocate. "'Compromising' is code for 'get rid of stuff that's controversial.' We've got a relatively good bill, but we're already caving."
Jacobson is already concerned that the most recent draft of Lantos' bill changed the phrase "reproductive health" to "family planning." She said that the latter phrase is weakened language that will make it harder to guarantee women get the healthcare services they need. The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation was also troubled. It called for "support provisions that will help strengthen prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and pediatric treatment programs and oppose any amendments that restrict the provision of prevention services in PEPFAR countries."