NCJW Marks World AIDS Day with Call for More Funding and Fewer Restrictions

November 27, 2007, Washington, DC -- In observance of World AIDS Day on December 1, the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) calls on Congress and the Bush Administration to increase funding and remove harmful restrictive provisions from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). NCJW President Phyllis Snyder released the following statement:

"NCJW supports the President's call for a $30 billion funding increase in his Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) when the program is re-authorized by Congress. However, we oppose restrictions written into the bill that seriously impede the job of preventing and treating AIDS. The existing law mandates that one-third of the program's HIV-prevention funding be spent on abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. It also effectively bars recipient groups from working with prostitutes to prevent AIDS. The so-called 'prostitution pledge' means that if organizations accept US assistance they are barred from even spending their own money on AIDS prevention programs targeting prostitutes.

"These measures are counterproductive. They reflect the agenda of an extreme minority that is committed to making US policy, and even international organizations, conform to a view of human sexuality that is based on ideology and not science. Their programmatic ideas have been disproved by scientific evaluation, yet they still have a stranglehold on federal policy regarding sexuality education and the treatment and prevention of HIV-AIDS. Their views condemn millions to unwanted pregnancies and fatal disease. Ending the dominance of these extremists over US health policy and international aid programs is a life and death matter.

"On the occasion of World AIDS Day, we urge Congress to pass a bill with adequate funding that is free of ideological constraints."

NCJW is a volunteer organization, inspired by Jewish values, that works to improve the quality of life for women, children, and families and to ensure individual rights and freedoms for all through its network of 90,000 members, supporters, and volunteers nationwide.

Contact:
Emily Alfano
202 296 2588 x5; emily@ncjwdc.org