ADVOCATES FOR YOUTH

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Bipartisan Bill Would Remove Abstinence-Until-Marriage From Overseas U.S. AIDS Prevention Programs

The PATHWAY Act Will Address HIV Vulnerability of Women and Girls

Washington, D.C. (March 28, 2007) Advocates for Youth today praised the introduction of the Protection Against Transmission of HIV for Women and Youth Act of 2007 (H.R. 1713), a bill that would remove the abstinence-until-marriage funding earmark from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

"Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Christopher Shays (R-CT) should be congratulated,” said James Wagoner, President of Advocates for Youth. “This country must lead by example and provide complete, science-based HIV prevention information, not force countries ravished by AIDS to use their limited resources to promote an ideological agenda.”

Besides officially repealing the congressional earmark in PEPFAR that requires at least 33% of HIV prevention funding to be used exclusively for programs that promote abstinence as the only way to stop the spread of the disease, PATHWAY would also require the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator to ensure that a comprehensive and integrated HIV prevention strategy addresses the vulnerabilities of women and girls in PEPFAR countries. Women and girls are at much higher risk for infection, and PEPFAR currently does little to address their specific needs.

"The ‘gravitational pull’ of billions of U.S. dollars has the potential to impact policy and practice for years to come,” added Wagoner. “This bill has the opportunity to change the U.S. government’s ideologically-driven global HIV prevention agenda and to provide honest, comprehensive services to those who need them most.”

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Advocates for Youth is a national, nonprofit organization that creates programs and supports policies that help young people make safe, responsible decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.

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