In a time of heightened political rhetoric, it is always good to see real solutions producing real results to serious issues.
Noting that during her three years as Governor, abortions in Kansas declined 11 percent, funds for adoption and programs that counsel women on a variety of options are increasing, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius vetoed a bill invading the privacy of women obtaining late-term abortions. "Privacy is a fundamental concern to all Kansans," Sebelius said.
Sebelius vetoed the bill against the backdrop of Attorney General Phil Kline's ongoing law suit seeking to obtain private medical records for women obtaining services at two clinics.
Both efforts typify what is happening across the country as progressives like Governor Sebelius can point to real success in reducing abortion thanks to pragmatic solutions while the opposition tries to score debating points by promoting bills that do nothing to reduce abortion and promote the erosion of civl liberties.
More practical solutions are being promoted to prevent HIV in African American communities in Illinois ...
In the next five minutes, another 25 women and girls will be infected with HIV. They are students, housewives, teachers, mothers, and more.HIV/AIDS programs have failed them, just as they have failed the 17 million women currently living with HIV/AIDS, and the countless others who have already died. We must do better.
Let’s take a look at the failure and its causes. In 2001, governments of the world declared that we would empower women and girls against the pandemic. When the world’s governments and civil society again convene at the United Nations next week they need to recognize that the situation is worse for women and girls today than it was five years ago. Infection rates among women and girls are rising in all regions, not only sub-Saharan Africa, because policies and funded programs to empower and protect them have not been a priority.
Following on the heels of coverage in the New York Times yesterday and Scott's post about it, we hear more today about the HIV epidemic in Kenya. First Lady Lucy Kibaki has made a strong statement against condom use:
Considering that the successes in lowering the infection rate in Kenya have been from comprehensive prevention campaigns, this statement could not have been a more obvious step backward.
Rep. Carolyn C. Kilpatrick (D-MI) plans to stand up for UNFPA, the UN Population Fund, by introducing an amendment during House Appropriations Committee foreign operations mark up May 25.Recognizing that the Administration has stretched the law the past four years to find reason to not release the Congressionally-appropriated funds to UNFPA, Kilpatrick’s office is working around it.Her amendment says if the Administration wants to withhold the funds again, the $34 million in the bill for UNFPA will go specifically to obstetric fistula prevention and treatment.Stay tuned.
A House committee today rejected Bush’s request to cut international family planning programs by $79 million, by restoring $56 million of funding. This is still a cut from current levels of funding, and if this goes unchanged, means that women and men that are currently receiving services to help plan when and how many children to have, among other things, will be left without.
The subcommittee also included $34 million for UNFPA, the UN population fund, to provide reproductive health services. UNFPA programs reach countries the United States does not, so it is one more way for Americans to improve life in many parts of the world.
Americans have made a great difference in the health and well being of women and children around the world with our support of these programs. We can continue to be a leader, or we can let these cuts stand. We’ll have to see if opponents will go after these programs – and will be tracking this issue here. Next step: The full Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider this bill Thursday, May 25.
Tuesday we reported on the silence from the White House over several questions about the President's views on contraception spanning nearly one year. Highly relevant, because his adminstration has so clearly attempted to thwart their use as a proven means of protection from STDs/HIV and unwanted pregnancy at home and around the world. Today, we join our friends at Birth Control Watch in counting the days of this unanswered question, with this accounting from the conservative publication Human Events:
During Tony Snow's first official press conference, a reporter asked him – out of the blue -- whether President Bush was personally opposed to family planning (Snow was too shocked to answer the question, although the President has just one set of twins). While Hillary and her cohorts might think that Republicans are anti-family planning because there are so many prominent Catholics working in the Bush administration, the truth is that the vast majority of Catholics, even Republican Catholics, don't agree with the Church's teachings on artificial contraception.
We saw the video, Tony did not look shocked, he just didn't have an answer, so why spin it? As for "out of the blue" that is a little hard to explain after 357 days. And one question, exactly which church teachings are people allowed to disagree with? If you could clear that up for the rest of us we could end lots of distracting debates and get back to the real business of finding common sense soultions to real world problems.
Most Americans would agree to help individuals caught up in human trafficking, frequently women or children sold into servitude for sex, housework and other kinds of labor. Your tax dollars are being used to provide basic services for these people who are getting resettled into a new life.Sounds pretty good. After all, these people were basically kidnapped from their homes and put into some kind of indentured work and certainly deserve a helping hand.
Up to $6 million of your tax dollars are going to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to provide things like health care, rent, clothing, child care, English classes and immigration filing fees.This also sounds pretty good too – the USCCB probably has people’s best interests in mind.The USCCB then re-grants to local organizations to provide these services.
The medical journal The Lancet says FDA Acting-Commissioner Andrew von Eshenbach may not be independent enough to run the FDA. "His failure to issue a decision undermines both his credibility and that of the agency. Von Eschenbach should move quickly to approve Plan B to show he has the independence needed to be an effective leader of the FDA," the editorial said.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and its new ad campaign encouraging women to plan ahead for Plan B and get the medicine before they need it is being called "political" by Wendy Wright of the Concerned Women for America. Former FDA official Dr. Susan Wood explains, "when women need emergency contraception they need it now, not tomorrow, not two days from now." See the new ads at Voice of America.
In advance of the UN General Assembly’s Special Session on HIV/AIDS at the end of May, the New York Timestakes a cut at lessons to be gleaned from Kenya’s apparently successful efforts in curtailing new HIV infections.The editing of the piece is a bit confusing – there are a couple of lines that suggest abstinence-only policies are a big part of Kenya’s suggest, but the bulk of the text reinforces the wisdom of a comprehensive approach.
Rewire is clear in its condemnation of abstinence-only policies. Comprehensive approaches to sex education should include abstinence information; it is the adherence to a strict abstinence-only policy that endangers so many. The New York Times reports that programs in Kenya that stress a comprehensive approach to education that includes a strong abstinence message, but does not forgo the protection of condoms, are important factors in that nation’s reduced HIV infections.Other factors indicated include that AIDS deaths have already significantly reduced the populations of HIV positive people, and that in neighboring Uganda, increased condom use has been important.
A federal judge has permanently enjoined USAID from enforcing its anti-prostitution policy on DKT International. From Phil Harvey, DKT President:
Judge Emmet Sullivan handed down his decision today in the case of DKT International v. USAID. The result is a major victory for DKT, for free speech, and for the integrity and independence of private US organizations.
Ruling that current US law, insofar as it requires "DKT to have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking" is "an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment." Judge Sullivan permanently enjoined USAID from enforcing the prostitution policy against DKT. His findings generally rest on the same legal grounds as the decision by Judge Marrero in the OSI case last week. The US government may not require private organizations to parrot the government's chosen speech as a condition for receiving government funding. Our injunction is permanent, so this part of the case is over. DKT will again seek USAID support for its AIDS-prevention programming in Vietnam and elsewhere.
