Boehner Says Democratic Changes On Abortion, Abstinence 'Undermine' Global HIV/AIDS Program

  • Medical News Today
  • Feb 10, 2008

The House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief on Feb. 7, the AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The committee is scheduled to vote on the $50 billion reauthorization draft bill on Feb. 14.

The draft bill includes changes to current law that social conservatives are strongly opposing. One change would remove a requirement that PEPFAR focus countries spend one-third of their HIV prevention funds on programs that promote abstinence. The abstinence requirement amounts to about 7% of all PEPFAR spending, the AP/Star Tribune reports.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Democratic proposals that would remove abstinence-only spending requirements and change policies on family planning would "undermine" PEPFAR and place the program's work "at risk," the AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

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