For Immediate Release:	February 20, 2003
Sponsor Organization:	Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
“This is far from a good development - this will not help fight AIDS, it will prevent more women and men from receiving health care." --Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
Washington, DC– Today, after press reports indicating that the Bush Administration plans to expand the Mexico City Policy, also known as the Global Gag Rule, to even more programs including those assisting with domestic violence, treatment of STDs, and maternal mortality, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) released the following statement: “This is far from a good development - this will not help fight AIDS, it will prevent more women and men from receiving health care. By expanding this policy to more areas, a policy which would be unconstitutional in our own country, we are now going to gag more foreign health providers than ever before. It is reckless, irresponsible, and works directly against the Administration’s supposed commitment to fighting the AIDS pandemic,” said Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney in a statement today. She continued, “Despite the Administration’s best efforts to spin this as a compromise, the reality is that the new policy is not only unfair, it is unworkable and therefore does more harm than good. The new policy forces foreign health clinics to isolate their AIDS treatment routines from all other healthcare routines - not only does it not make sense, it will be impossible for many of the clinics to accommodate, therefore preventing them from receiving any funds. This action shows that the Administration is now actually going to make it even harder for public health professionals to carry out the incredibly difficult task before them.” Additional Background: In a meeting with four Members of Congress and nearly a dozen Congressional staffers on Wednesday, 2/12/03, when asked if the gag rule would be applied to all BPRM programs, Assistant Secretary Dewey stated that "multilateral organizations were not covered by the Mexico City Policy." Yet in a memorandum sent to Secretary Powell dated 2/11/03, Secretary Dewey stating that the "White House will discuss plans to extend the Mexico City Policy to cover all U.S. funding through DOS and USAID for "reproductive health" programs.... The second option, which we expect the White House to favor, would expand in some manner the Mexico City Policy." To view the memo in its entirety, please go to: http://www.house.gov/maloney/issues/UNFPA/21103DeweyMemo.pdf /> More than 20 million people have already died of AIDS. 40 million more are living with the infection. Separating HIV/AIDS education and treatment from routine provision of health care doesn’t make sense for either providers or patients. Research clearly demonstrates that successful HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment efforts are integrated approaches. The gag rule restricted distribution of condoms because many family planning organizations lost USAID funding. It prevented providers from engaging in policy debates about unsafe, illegal abortions – which claim the lives of more than 78,000 women a year. The Administration’s new policy will further limit access to quality comprehensive care in developing countries by restricting providers’ ability to talk frankly with patients or to advocate for health care reforms. ###