Religious Right denies lifesaving aid to Africans

[DaveSZ]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-crossette10jun10,1,6827623.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions


By Barbara Crossette
ACCRA, Ghana — From a small building on the outskirts of this crowded West African capital, a new national organization for youth is taking shape. It's called Young & Wise. One of the things it does is promote condom use to stop AIDS. It doesn't distribute them willy-nilly. Its message is measured, its partners are churches and mosques, and its ABCs would be familiar to many conservative American Christians — abstain, be faithful and use a condom when the time is finally right to engage in sex. On the walls are little stickers saying, "True love waits."

The problem is that the supplier to Ghana of the best condoms, the United States Agency for International Development, can no longer give any to this project. Does this make any sense?

"It's the 'gag rule,' " explains Delah Banuelo, the organization's program officer. He is referring to the Republican ban on giving aid to groups that counsel people on abortion, whether or not the groups actually perform abortions. The Bush administration is in effect punishing a promising effort in Ghana because Young & Wise is part of the Planned Parenthood Assn. of Ghana, which in turn belongs to the International Planned Parenthood Federation, an organization on the no-no list in the White House.

The gag rule has also harmed another funder of reproductive health programs in Ghana, the United Nations Population Fund. The U.S. has withdrawn all contributions to the fund because of unfounded reports, which the State Department has debunked, that it supports abortions in China.

-more

[demnan]

1. Remember also

that the first thing Bush did as President was to sign into law the policy denying this aid.