April 30, 2003
Bush Rallies Support for AIDS Relief Bill
by Kevin Eckstrom
Religion News Service
WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Tuesday that more than 760,000 people have died and 1.2 million have been infected with the HIV virus since he unveiled his global AIDS plan in January, and urged Congress to pass the $15 billion package because "time is not on our side."
"When we see the wounded traveler on the road to Jericho, we will not, America will not, pass to the other side of the road," Bush told a White House gathering of about 200 religious, community and government leaders.
The legislation, unveiled in the president's State of the Union address, would provide $15 billion over five years for prevention and treatment in the 14 Caribbean and African nations hit hardest by the epidemic.
"People with this disease cannot be written off as expendable," Bush told the audience gathered in the White House East Room.
The bill has been generally supported but closely monitored by religious groups, especially conservatives who want less money spent on condoms and more spent on abstinence programs.
Indeed, the most prominent faces at the White House rally were evangelical Christian leaders such as Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, Prison Fellowship founder Chuck Colson and evangelists Franklin Graham and Anne Graham Lotz, children of legendary evangelist Billy Graham.
The House International Relations Committee rejected three changes that would have favored abstinence programs, provided a conscience clause for religious groups opposed to condoms and mandated greater oversight of the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Global Fund will receive approximately $200 million a year under the Bush plan.
Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., said he will try to revive the three-pronged reform package when the House takes up the bill Thursday. Bush angered conservatives last week when he indicated he would sign the bill even if it didn't include the abstinence and conscience clause changes.
But at the White House, Bush highlighted prevention programs in Uganda that emphasize "abstinence and marital fidelity as well as condoms to prevent HIV transmission." Bush said Uganda should be the "model" for any program that receives U.S. funding.
At a private meeting before his speech, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington told Bush that Catholic programs -- which treat one-quarter of all AIDS cases in the world -- need a conscience clause because of their moral opposition to condoms and birth control.
"The president certainly sees that, and my impression is that he's certainly in favor of it," McCarrick said.
In his public remarks, Bush said, "We must ensure that the legislation provides the greatest opportunity for faith-based and community organizations to fully participate in helping a neighbor in need."
Conservative groups say previous programs that relied on condoms to stop the spread of AIDS have failed miserably.
"When you put abstinence first, as they did in Uganda, infection rates fall," said Michael Schwartz, chief lobbyist for Concerned Women for America. "It was not through social marketing of condoms, like they did in South Africa, it was through promoting abstinence and marital fidelity."
Nearly all mainline Protestant churches, which have lobbied for increased AIDS funding for years, strongly support the bill. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also supports the bill, although its foreign policy office would like to see additional money for development and economic aid projects.
