Abstinance, Be Faithful, Condom Use, Is A Right To Life Issue

Excerpts are from the Associated Press article "Religious Groups Get Chunk of AIDS Money" by Rita Beamish

President Bush's $15 billion effort to fight AIDS has handed out nearly one-quarter of its grants to religious groups, and officials are aggressively pursuing new church partners that often emphasize disease prevention through abstinence and fidelity over condom use.

The Separation of Church and State groups hate this but it makes a smart move. Using people that are committed to an ideal because of ideology sounds better than those that are committed because of money. Lets look at what this really states. It states religious groups urge individuals primarily not to have sex outside of marriage and secondarily to use a condom when having sex.

Conservative Christian allies of the president are pressing the U.S. foreign aid agency to give fewer dollars to groups that distribute condoms or work with prostitutes. The Bush administration provided more than 560 million condoms abroad last year, compared with some 350 million in 2001.

I wonder how many condoms were distributed in previous administrations. I can see where conservative Christians are coming from and the people have to be won over to that ideal. My question is how do you handle the situation until you win the people over.

"The notion that because people have always received aid money that they'll get money needs to end," Deputy U.S. global AIDS coordinator Mark Dybul said in an interview with The Associated Press. "The only way to have sustainable programs is to have programs that are wholly owned in terms of management personnel at the local level."

I also like the decentralization practiced by the Bush administration. I am sure it was part of the cause of the Katrina incident as the federal government waited for the local governments to take the lead and the local governments waited for the federal governments to take the lead. Somehow our government will have to get on the same page. I favor Bush’s ideal because the local governments and organizations should have more knowledge about their jurisdiction.

For prevention, Bush embraces the "ABC" strategy: abstinence before marriage, being faithful to one partner, and condoms targeted for high-risk activity. The Republican-led Congress mandated that one-third of prevention money be reserved for abstinence and fidelity.

Condom promotion to anyone must include abstinence and fidelity messages, U.S. guidelines say, but those preaching abstinence do not have to provide condom education.

The abstinence emphasis, say some longtime AIDS volunteers, has led to a confusing message and added to the stigma of condom use in parts of Africa. Village volunteers in Swaziland maintain a supply of free condoms but say they have few takers.

The question is whether or not abstinence education is working. The Condom promotion is only necessary when the abstinence and fidelity messages fail.

"For years now we have been trying to tell our daughters that they should finish their education and train in a profession before they get married. Otherwise they have few options if they find themselves separated from their husbands for some reason," Apunyo said.

I disagree with the message to tell anyone to wait to get married. Inadvertently you are also telling them they can only advance themselves outside of marriage. I have seen many married people get an education and train in a new job. You can teach them to use condoms inside the marriage to reduce the chance of a child if they want but even mother’s can get educated..

Secular activists say it is not realistic to expect all teenagers to abstain from sex and that teenagers also should be taught how to protect themselves.

Abstinence is teaching teenagers to protect themselves. My general opinion is if a teenager is old enough to have sex without their parents consent then they are old enough to get married with their parents consent. Teenage marriages do end in divorce more often than those of adults but non-marital sexual relationships are significantly more unstable. Parents, can help their child decide if the marriage is a good one.