Abstinence, Condom Controversy Erupts at AIDS Meet

[Maddy McCall]

Mon Jul 12, 2004 04:26 AM ET
By Darren Schuettler

The controversy over whether sexual abstinence, favored by the Bush administration, or condoms are more effective in the fight against AIDS erupted at a major conference on Monday

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni brought the issue, which has set many AIDS activists at odds with Washington, into the open at the global AIDS conference by saying abstinence was the best way to stem the spread of the killer virus.

...

Museveni added fuel to a debate within the AIDS community over the best way to halt the spread of a disease which has killed 20 million people and infected 38 million people more. Uganda's "ABC" method (Abstinence, Being faithful and Condoms) is a model for Bush administration's AIDS policies which are under fire at the conference for advocating sexual abstinence to stem infection.

...

Rep. Barbara Lee, the only member of Congress to attend the week-long meeting, accused the Bush administration of using ideology, not science, to dictate policy. She said the U.S. AIDS initiative required that one third of all HIV prevention funding go to "abstinence until marriage" programs. "In an age where five million people are newly infected each year and women and girls too often do not have the choice to abstain, an abstinence until marriage program is not only irresponsible, it's really inhumane," Lee said. "Abstaining from sex is oftentimes not a choice, and therefore their only hope in preventing HIV infection is the use of condoms," she added.

much more at: Reuters

[The Zanti Regent]

1. The truth is that Bush wants them to die.

He really does believe that the white race is superior and he will do anything to exterminate non-whites!

[xchrom]

2. mind control, personality control

i think these phrases define more and more these past few years -- and this abstinence bullshit is just one more example.

[gatlingforme]

3. Bush is all Ideology, Look at what comprises his cabinet members

[uptown ruler]

4. idiots...

Spreading The Word

[lottie244]

5. But the Bush admin believe 'those people' should not have sex...nor

anyone else for that matter. What if you 'abstain' until you get married and then get AIDS from your partner or from contaminated blood?

[JoFerret]

6. ...and W's daddy was nicknamed Rubbers....

shame

[aden_nak]

7. What Fucking Controversy?

Seriously. What? Fucking? Controversy?

It'd be a controversy if there were medical evidence suggesting that both methods work, and there could be some comparative analysis of said evidence. There is none. In fact, all of the medical research points to the conclusion that Abstinence Only programs are less effective than Safe Sex programs, and may actually be less effective than NO EDUCATION AT ALL.

This is part of the ridiculous notion in journalism and now in politics that the "left" and "right" opinions both have to be represented as valid arguments, even if they are completely fully of shit. Even if 100% of the evidence suggests that one person is right and the other is wrong, both sides get to make their speech as if they actually have some credibility. This piss-poor system excuses itself by suggesting that if one side has a bum argument, the people hearing that argument will recognize that it's not valid and ignore it. What this excuse overlooks is that by elevating both arguments to the same level of importance, the "bum" argument gets a huge leg up at the state of the debate.

I'm sick of this bullshit. Sometimes people are just plain fucking wrong, and it's about time we started making some noise about it. Sometimes everyone needs to bring their thoughts to the table, sure. And other times certain people need to go sit back at the kiddie table until they get a fucking clue. Conservatives learned long ago to exploit Liberals' inherent desire to hear all sides of an argument as a loophole to get even their most disgusting rhetoric legitimized. That shit's got to stop.

There is no controversy. Abstinence Only Education does not fucking work, and that's the end of the fucking debate.

[Rose Siding]

8. Kofi's suggestion: "What is needed is the education of girls"??

http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/story/0,7369,1259156,00.html

Kofi Annan, UN secretary general, called for leadership from all parts of governments, all the way to the top, which has not been seen in all Asian countries, just as African leaders took years to recognise the crisis and speak out against stigma. "Aids is far more than a health crisis. It is a threat to development itself," he said.

Leadership was one of three priorities he defined. He also called for infrastructure to be scaled up in Aids-hit countries to allow more people to be treated and he called for a better deal for women who are unable to defend themselves against unsafe sex because of poverty, abuse, violence and coercion by older men. "What is needed is the education of girls," he said.

Granted, he may have said many other things that would mitigate the impact of this as a stand-alone quote. I hope that he did. Because how does educating girls protect them from "abuse, violence and coercion"?

[cap]

9. education of girls empowers them

with knowledge of biology and the tools to earn a living. Ups self esteem.

Granted the men need a whole lot of educating too starting with respect for women.

[DaveSZ]

10. I'm so sick of Fundies and their closed-minded idiocy

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=541&ncid=753&e=1&u=/ap/20040712/ap_on_he_me/aids_meeting

Experts Tout Condoms in AIDS Fight

Mon Jul 12,10:17 AM ET



By VIJAY JOSHI, Associated Press Writer

BANGKOK, Thailand - Scientists, activists and policy-makers Monday touted condoms as a trusted weapon in the fight against AIDS (news - web sites), dismissing President Bush (news - web sites)'s policy of abstinence as a "serious setback" in global efforts to control the pandemic.


Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was the only big-name speaker at the International AIDS Conference to support the ABC policy of the United States: Abstinence, Being faithful and Condoms — in that order of priority.

Museveni said loving relationships based on trust are crucial, and that "the principle of condoms is not the ultimate solution."

"In some cultures sexual intercourse is so elaborate that condoms are a hindrance," he told a plenary session. "Let the condom be used by people who cannot abstain, cannot be faithful, or are estranged."

-more

[DaveSZ]

11. Texas has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the country

That's what Bush wants for the world.


http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/07/12texts.html

Texas students deserve full sexual health education

EDITORIAL BOARD
Monday, July 12, 2004


Texas school districts would be better off keeping their old health textbooks rather than buying new ones, because the books that publishers are peddling don't give students enough information to protect themselves against unwanted pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

School officials, parents and health experts should deliver that message in person to publishers at Wednesday's public hearing on the new health textbooks. Publishers should have listened to medical experts, teachers and parents on the subject instead of cozying up to a vocal, but politically influential, minority that wants to force its ideological policies on all Texas students.

The proposed textbooks ignore the realities of today's teenagers. While many youngsters are not having sex, many are: Texas has the nation's highest pregnancy rate among girls between 15 and 17 years old, and for young adults ages 18 and 19. Infection rates for sexually transmitted diseases and the killer HIV-AIDS virus among teenagers and young adults are alarming.

Students need books and instruction focused on abstinence — the best and most effective way to avoid unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. This is where the books excel. But they fall woefully short in providing information about condoms that have proved effective in preventing pregnancies and the spread of diseases among sexually active people. Such an omission is irresponsible.

-more

[Rose Siding]

12. Sure! Education's great but singling out girls is odd.

Perhaps there are cultures that depend only on one sex or the other to bear responsiblily for "a threat to development itself". I doubt it.

[The Animator]

13. Wonder why this Administration and it's supporters are so war-like?

Violence is a result of sexual frustration.

Sure, you stand a better chance of avoiding a sexually transmitted disease by not having sex. But is a life without sex really worth living?

Sure donuts are bad for you, and could shorten your lifespan, but would you really want to live a longer life if there were no donuts in it?

I have long beleived that the agressiveness and zealotry of the religious right stems from the repression of their sexual impulses. Because sex is "bad", they don't sex, or try to deny their urges for a really long time. Because they don't have sex, they want to kill something. They tell other people they shouldn't have sex, whether other people beleive them or not, because they want other people to be just as violent as they are.

[Algomas]

14. The countries surrounding Uganda...

should impose a quarantine and close their borders to passage from Uganda until it's government wakes the **** up!

[hightime]

15. 6 % of Uganda's 26.5 million people are now infected, down from 30 %

six percent of Uganda's 26.5 million people are now infected, down from 30 percent in the 1980s. Show me another African state that is experiencing a downturn. Uganda has had a HUGE turnaround.