For Immediate Release:	March 11, 2003
For More Information:	Fiona Salter, Internationa Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), fsalter@ippf.org, +44 20 7487 7892
Sponsor Organization:	International Planned Parenthood Federation
Disentangle AIDS funding from abortion politics, says IPPF’s Dr Steven Sinding
The Bush administration is considering a plan that would deny HIV/AIDS funding to foreign non-government organizations (NGOs) unless they separate their HIV/AIDS programs from family planning services that include abortion counselling or procedures. This is the first time that the "Mexico City Policy" or “Global Gag Rule” restrictions have been applied to HIV/AIDS programs. Under the plan, reproductive health organisations, including those that provide no abortion advice or services, would be eligible for funding only if they agree to establish separate HIV/AIDS facilities and account for the HIV/AIDS funds separately from their reproductive health funds. Dr Steven Sinding, the Director General of the world’s largest sexual and reproductive health organisation, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, made this comment: “This policy cannot work in actual programme settings because the vast majority of organisations in Africa and elsewhere have integrated services – almost none of which include abortion. It would be impractical and counter-productive for these organisations to try to separate their family planning services from the HIV/AIDS work. You don’t tell a young man coming to a family health clinic for advice that he has to get his AIDS-prevention condoms from the HIV clinic across the road! From a public health perspective, the best approach is to fully integrate AIDS prevention efforts into family planning programs, not separate them. IPPF’s network of field-based clinics work on this premise. They deliver essential services that prevent both unwanted pregnancies and HIV infections. Many people, who may have visited a family planning clinic, will fear the stigma of visiting a designated HIV/AIDS clinic. Why, after promising to be so generous, is the White House effectively denying the funds to the very organisations that could be the most effective in preventing the spread of HIV? It is unjust, ill-considered and illogical to expect that these grass-roots organisations, often operating in poor conditions, can or should establish separate HIV/AIDS facilities and services in order to receive US funds. From a developing world perspective these restrictions are costly and unworkable; from a health and human rights perspective they are indefensible." Steven W. Sinding London [the author, a former director of population programs at USAID, is Director-General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation in London] Notes to Editors The Mexico City Policy or Global Gag Rule. The policy, so named because President Ronald Reagan announced it during a United Nations population conference in Mexico City in 1984, was in effect until 1993, when President Bill Clinton revoked it on his second full day in office. It was briefly in effect again in 1999 after Clinton and the Republican Congress fought over paying back dues to the UN, then fully restored by President Bush on the first business day of his presidency in January 2001. The Mexico City Policy bars US funding of international groups that use non-US funds to perform or advocate for abortion, and has typically been used to deny funding to international family planning organizations. The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is the largest voluntary organization working to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights, with affiliates in almost 150 countries and programs in over 180. It is at the forefront of the fight to reduce maternal deaths and to help young people to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies and HIV/AIDS. For further comment contact Fiona Salter, IPPF, on +44 020 7487 7892