More Juxtaposition

The news of yet another Spears baby is probably going to be the big story in the gossip rags this week. In a (depressing) case of synchronicity, I heard the news just after this article -- which is quoted after the jump -- found its way into my inbox.
(image via americablog)

The War On Contraception

Every day in the United States, 10,000 young people acquire a sexually-transmitted disease. Teen pregnancy rates in this country are rising, and 2.5 million people worldwide contracted HIV in 2007. Nevertheless, the Bush administration continues to push scientifically unsound policies of abstinence education and defund widely-accepted family planning programs. The price of birth control pills on college campuses, for example, has skyrocketed from as little as $5 a month to more than $40 because of changes in federal law. Yesterday, however, congressional leaders blocked President Bush's attempt to expand abstinence funding at the expense of vital domestic priorities, freezing funding at approximately $115 million in the omnibus spending bill. They also included over $305 million for Title X programs, which provide "low-cost, confidential family planning services." "For the first time in recent memory, congressional leaders are making a clear investment in family planning, while finally putting the brakes on Bush's failed 'abstinence-only' programs," noted NARAL Pro-Choice President Nancy Keenan.

REJECTING ABSTINENCE: Abstinence-only education programs remain one of the right wing's favorite pet projects, placing public health at the mercy of ideology. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) recently added more than two dozen earmarks for abstinence education totaling over $1 million to a Labor and Health and Human Services appropriations measure. In October, Bush appointed abstinence-only proponent Susan Orr to oversee federal family planning programs; Orr once called contraceptives part of the "culture of death." Yet along with Congress, state governments are increasingly rejecting Bush's abstinence push. At least 14 states have "either notified the federal government that they will no longer be requesting the funds or are not expected to apply, forgoing more than $15 million of the $50 million available." Last month, 10 leading scientists in the field of adolescent sexual and reproductive health wrote to congressional leaders and "strongly" urged them to "reconsider federal support for abstinence-only education programs and policies." These concerns about Bush's reproductive health policies are well-founded. After the proliferation of abstinence-only programs nationwide, teen birth rates rose between 2005 and 2006, reversing a 14-year decline. A federal report released in April showed that abstinence-only programs have had "no impacts on rates of sexual abstinence."

GLOBAL GAG RULE CONTINUES: Despite these advancements in domestic reproductive rights, the government-wide spending bill announced yesterday was unable to increase support for international family planning. Lacking the votes to override Bush's veto threat, Congress was forced yesterday to drop its insistence that that the 2008 foreign aid budget reverse a longstanding ban on providing aid -- including donated contraceptives -- to organizations abroad that use their own money to offer abortions, counsel about abortion, or advocate to change their countries' abortion laws. Bush has supported this ban -- first initiated by President Reagan in 1984 -- since taking office in 2001, despite the fact that contraception is the most effective way to reduce rates of unintended pregnancy and abortion. A recent study concluded "abortion rates are similar in countries where it is legal and those where it is not." Additionally, "researchers found that abortion was safe in countries where it was legal, but dangerous in countries where it was outlawed and performed clandestinely."

A 'DOGMATIC ADHERENCE TO AN ILLOGICAL POSITION': The Bush administration's misguided abstinence-only policies have meant a decrease in contraception funding. When Bush created his President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003, administration scientists "lobbied for reinvigorating international family planning efforts," showing studies that "even a modest expansion of contraceptive programs could prevent nearly three times the number of child AIDS deaths as could antiretroviral programs for pregnant women." Yet despite increasing evidence on the importance of contraceptives, funding has continued to decline. Funding for birth control programs in Bush's most recent budget "is less than one-third the amount spent in 1995, when adjusted for inflation." Furthermore, a Government Accountability Office report in 2006 found that countries have had to reduce spending on HIV/AIDS prevention in order to meet the Bush administration's abstinence requirements. "This dogmatic adherence to an illogical position...prevents us from working effectively to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and unintended pregnancies and reduce abortions," said Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY).