Condom supply to Africa hit by US abortion policy

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1049186,00.html

The Bush administration's ban on funds to family planning clinics which offer abortion counselling is adversely affecting the supply of condoms to countries hit by HIV/Aids, it was claimed yesterday.
Clinics have had to close in a number of African countries because the family planning organisations running them refuse to sign a declaration that they will not offer abortions or even discuss them.

<snip>

USAid's condom supplies to a further 13 countries have been cut because the main, although not the only, family planning organisation will not sign. They include some with the worst HIV problems in Africa: Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe
<snip>

Great example of what "faith based initiatives" are capable of. "We'll help you if you believe what we want you to believe."

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. Faith-based genocide

would be more like it.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

2. Thank you, Mr. Bush. You have made the country look like

the ignorant, poorly educated fool that you are.

[cally]

3. I'm so angry now..

I know so many are anti-abortion. How could any sane person be antibirth control. :argh:

[Guaranteed]

14. Deliberately counterproductive, isn't it?

Geniuses.

[demdave]

4. Why don't other countries step in when we fall on our faces??

Are there other countries helping to supply condoms to Africa? This can't be a huge cash cost. I don't think the current admin is going to change it's mind anytime soon and this is an immediate need.


What is Europe doing about this? Anything?

[Paschall]

15. About the EU

I can't pin down specifics on condom donations, and the EU's HIV/AIDS programme site doesn't seem to have been updated in a while.

I don't have the links on hand, but the EU has done some interesting studies on the prevalence and impact of condom use on the spread of HIV in Africa. The Union has also studied the feasibility of setting up local condom manufacturers in Africa, which I think very wise.

For more info, go to the EU's site, http://europa.eu.int, select English, and then the Development section. You can do a site search from there, for "condoms," for example; it will only search the current section (Development).

[proud patriot]

5. bush SUCKS

:grr:

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

6. How many pro-lifers does it take to change a lightbulb?

Six. Two to screw in the bulb and four to testify that it was lit from the moment they began screwing.

[PurityOfEssence]

7. Would Jesus use condoms?

Bet he would...

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

8. Maybe not. If a Jesus could procreate and spread goodness...

What a wonderful world it would be.

[BonjourUSA]

12. What a curious question

Bush questioned himself, he answers for the great happiness of Africans.

Let's Christ, God and else out our political decisions for the great happiness of humanity

[SoCalDem]

9. The rightwingers WANT a depopulated Africa

Once the "pesky Africans" are all dead from aids, Africa will be sitting there like a ripe fruit, for the picking..

Aids kills faster in Africa, and they RWers are in no real hurry to get maintenance drugs to the people..

It would not surprise me a bit if the Homeland Security folks would eventually disallow travelers from Africa to even come here..

[Paschall]

16. A ripe fruit that's perhaps very unpleasant for the stomach

The huge number of orphans created by the AIDS pandemic in Africa represents a massive risk for the future. We're already seeing them enrolled as child soldiers in a number of African uprisings. I heard a psychologist recently describe his research on the youth populations in developing countries; he'd found that when the number of under-16s represents X percentage (30-50%) of the population, political unrest is almost guaranteed. Think about it: without parents, often without extended family, and no social services to speak of, millions of children are being deprived of basic socialization, not to mention basic education, or the higher education most of Africa needs to lift itself out of its current pitiful state.

And life expectancy in some African countries has dropped 20 years in the past decade. Unsocialized desperate kids in the millions, pumped up on pubescent hormones, often with massive arsenals available for the looting--not a pretty picture. Can you say Lord of the Rings on the scale of a continent?

[SoCalDem]

17. The republicans are a patient lot..

With aids rampant, it would not take long for those child soldiers to become infected and die too.. and what better way to spread a sexually contracted disease, but with a youthful army?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

18. Lord of the Rings or Lord of the Flies?

[Mari333]

10. Bush's policy appeals to his racist base

those people in the red states who are sitting in their homes, gluttonous fools and miscreants, WalMartians , the John Hagee crowd, the Falwell crowd of monstrous tithers and illiterate, pompous, arrogant windbags .
Every dying child that is born infected with AIDS should be sent straight to their comfy homes, and these people should be forced to take care of them and watch them die. Pro Life, my arse.

[Rose Siding]

11. Less money in condoms

than in Aids meds. Must feed the contributors.

[MaineDem]

13. This sickens me!

How can we let the views of one person (Georgie Boy) regulate how we distribute health funds to the world?

It's not like abortion is illegal in the US. What right does he have to tell other countries what they should be doing?

I'm sorry, but I get so bloody angry over this.

Many people are dying because of our policies ALL over the world.