AFRO-NETS> Bush to Back Bill on AIDS and Abortion

[Claudio Schuftan <aviva@netnam.vn>]

Bush to Back Bill on AIDS and Abortion
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It is amazing, isn't it?

Claudio Schuftan
mailto:aviva@netnam.vn


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April 29, 2003

BUSH TO BACK BILL ON AIDS AND ABORTION

By ELISABETH BUMILLER

WASHINGTON, April 28 - Ignoring objections from his conservative 
base, President Bush is to make a Rose Garden speech on Tuesday in 
support of a $15 billion bill to fight AIDS internationally that will 
direct some money to groups that promote abortion.

The bill, sponsored by Representative Henry J. Hyde, Republican of 
Illinois, has been the subject of intense negotiations between the 
White House and both parties on Capitol Hill. Now it is drawing fire 
from conservatives who say Mr. Bush's support is merely an attempt to 
win favor with moderate swing voters in 2004.

"This is about politics," Ken Connor, president of the anti-abortion 
Family Research Council, said. "The AIDS lobby will be very happy, 
the homosexual lobby will be very happy, the condom crowd will be 
happy, the Planned Parenthood folks will be happy. That's not the 
president's base."

The bill has its genesis in the State of the Union address in Janu-
ary, when Mr. Bush proposed an initiative to spend $15 billion over 
the next five years to fight AIDS around the world, a tripling of fi-
nancing. The money was to be spent on AIDS prevention and treatment 
programs in 12 African nations, as well as in Haiti and Guyana. It 
was applauded by both Republicans and Democrats and quick enactment 
was expected.

Instead, Mr. Bush's proposal immediately stalled in partisan argu-
ments. Conservatives said the AIDS money should not go to interna-
tional groups that promote abortion because the so-called Mexico City 
rule - named for the place that Ronald Reagan announced it - already 
bars foreign aid to such groups. Democrats responded that conserva-
tives were trying to broaden the Mexico City rule.

Eventually Mr. Bush chose what his aides described as a compromise, 
which was to allow an international organization to receive American 
AIDS money as long as its abortion and family planning programs were 
conducted and financed separately. It is unclear how such a policy 
would be enforced in 14 nations around the world.

But that compromise is not included in Mr. Hyde's bill, which makes 
no mention of the Mexico City rule or abortion. Mr. Hyde, a longtime 
opponent of abortion, has said that it is more important to him that 
his AIDS bill passes and that including mention of abortion will set 
Democrats against it. Administration officials say they will nonethe-
less press their policy of keeping AIDS money from going directly to 
family planning activities.

The bill also includes language from Democrats who added "use of con-
doms" as one of the healthy lifestyles the AIDS initiative is meant 
to promote. That, too, has angered conservatives, who favor absti-
nence.

AIDS groups generally praised the legislation and Mr. Bush's initia-
tive. "I think he's taking a very pragmatic approach to what has to 
be done," said Kate Carr, president of the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. 
She is to be a guest in the Rose Garden on Tuesday. 
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