Bush Administration “Breaks the Promise” by Expanding Global Gag Rule to HIV Funding On Eve of World AIDS Day. This will further undermine HIV Prevention efforts for women and girls According to the Center for Health and Gender Equity. As Africa undergoes a horrible AIDS crisis, the expansion of the gag rule only leads to many more needless deaths. It is downright genocidal for the Bush regime to refuse to fund education about and access to HIV as prevention while millions in Africa suffer and die from AIDS.
In a stealth move intended to draw little public notice, the Bush Administration has formally expanded the Global Gag Rule to U.S. global AIDS funding under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), according to the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE). The restrictions appear as part of a five-year, $193 million call for proposals for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care in Kenya released late Friday, November 18th by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). (For a summary of the grant, see www.genderhealth.org/kenyagrant.php).
In August 2003, President Bush released an Executive Order specifically exempting U.S. global AIDS funds from gag rule restrictions. “The theme of World AIDS Day 2005 is ‘Keep the Promise.’ In expanding the Global Gag Rule to U.S. global AIDS funding on the eve of World AIDS Day, the Administration has broken its own written commitment not to subject global AIDS funds to these onerous restrictions,” stated Jodi Jacobson, Executive Director of CHANGE.