HIV/AIDS Advocates Call on Congress to Support Integration of Family Planning Programs with HIV Services
March 28, 2008Washington, DC… On April 2nd the House of Representatives is scheduled to consider a bill reauthorizing the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). HIV/AIDS prevention & treatment organizations have partnered with sexual and reproductive health organizations to send a letter to more than 30 key members of Congress. The letter (copied below) urges members of Congress to remove restrictions on family planning services from PEPFAR.
While PEPFAR is a historic effort to combat HIV, there are critical flaws in the program. As is evident in the letter below, the partnership between family planning and HIV prevention services is paramount to stemming the tide of new infections. Supporting family planning programs would strengthen U.S. HIV/AIDS assistance by taking a big step forward in meeting the needs of the population most at risk for HIV infection – women and girls. Both HIV/AIDS and family planning organizations recognize this and have joined together in requesting a critical fix to the PEPFAR bill.
Population Action International has experts on this issue that are available to discuss the provisions and their impact. For more information or to arrange an interview with a PAI spokesperson, please contact Tyler LePard at 202.557.3422.
Letter to Members of Congress:
We, the undersigned organizations, are writing regarding our collective support for the integration of family planning programs, without restrictions, with HIV prevention counseling, testing and treatment services in the U.S. Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 (H.R. 5501, S. 2731).
Family planning and other reproductive health service providers are often the “first responders” on HIV prevention for women and older adolescents, who are more likely to use these health services than any other segment of the population. Moreover, because they provide a trusted gateway to HIV-prevention, counseling, testing and ultimately treatment access services—especially for HIV positive women who are pregnant—it should be the goal of the US government to dramatically expand support for such program linkages. This is a sound approach to effective and efficient health care provision.
Despite the importance of these linkages, new PEPFAR legislation soon to come up for votes in the House threatens to further restrict, rather than support expansion of HIV prevention by family planning organizations. We strongly object to these restrictions.
The House version of the U.S. Global AIDS Act contains language suggesting that only family planning programs compliant with the global gag rule will be eligible to receive PEPFAR funds to provide HIV education, counseling and testing. This would be a new restriction: no such requirement exists in current law or policy. In fact, organizations not compliant with the global gag rule have successfully partnered with PEPFAR to expand HIV prevention, counseling and testing services to women and youth in several countries.
With six new people infected with HIV for every new person put on treatment, we must ensure the United States is leading the battle to enact robust and flexible prevention efforts that will enable us to end the AIDS epidemic. The language in the current House bill that could limit the kinds of family planning programs eligible to receive PEPFAR funds only serves to undermine prevention efforts by potentially discouraging, if not disqualifying, the most effective family planning partners in a given country. The one thing that is clear about this provision is that it is unclear, leaving it wide open to a range of interpretations. We know from experience that this vague language causes more problems in program implementation than solutions. Instead of limiting family planning services, we must protect and enhance the programs that provide effective HIV/AIDS services to the most vulnerable and at-risk populations.
We encourage you to support removing the restrictions placed on family planning in H.R. 5501 by striking “supported by the United States Government” in relation to family planning programs. The Global Gag Rule should be repealed altogether, not used to limit services even further.
We thank you for your action and your leadership.
Sincerely,
ACT UP Philadelphia
ActionAid International USA
Advocates for Youth
AIDS Action Council
AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth & Families
AIDS Project Los Angeles
AIDS Task Force of Greater Cleveland
AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC)
American Civil Liberties Union
American Humanist Association
American Jewish World Service
American Medical Student Association
Artists for a New South Africa
Better World Campaign
Catholics for Choice
Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA)
Center for Health and Gender Equity
Center for Reproductive Rights
Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP)
Connecticut AIDS Resource Coalition
Feminist Majority
Gay Men’s Health Crisis
Global AIDS Alliance
Health GAP (Global Access Project)
HIVictorious
Human Rights Watch
International Center for Research on Women
Ipas
International Planned Parenthood Federation
International Women’s Health Coalition
Nashville CARES
National Abortion Federation
National Council of Jewish Women
National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association
Pathfinder International
Physicians for Human Rights
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Population Action International
Population Connection
Population Services International
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS)
The AIDS Institute
Union for Reform Judaism
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
Women of Reform Judaism
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Population Action International works to improve individual well-being and preserve global resources by mobilizing political and financial support for population, family planning and reproductive health policies and programs.
