AIDS crisis won't wait

Washington Post: For the members of Congress who have delayed funding President Bush's global AIDS initiative, his speech Tuesday should have stung: "In the three months since I announced the emergency plan, an estimated 760,000 people have died from AIDS, 1.2 million people have been infected, and more than 175,000 babies have been born with the virus," he said. "Time is not on our side."
The president could have been more explicit in chastising conservatives for their insistence on emphasizing abstinence to the exclusion of other approaches in the AIDS program. He might have cautioned Rep. Joseph R. Pitts, R-Pa., and others not to offer amendments this week that would upend a delicate compromise that Rep. Henry J. Hyde, R-Ill., took great pains to negotiate. In fact, the president seemingly encouraged those putting obstacles in the way of a sensible AIDS plan when he cited the famous Ugandan model of "ABC": "A" for abstinence, "B" for be faithful and "C" for using condoms.
While much to be admired, Uganda's relative success neither offers a magic formula for every situation nor depends as much as conservatives suggest on abstinence alone.
'Right to life' issue
But Mr. Bush's message was clear and correct: By calling AIDS prevention in Africa a "right to life" issue, he was warning conservatives not to be myopic or stubborn about their beliefs. This week the House will consider the bill with a new set of amendments. One adds a "conscience clause" allowing faith-based groups to opt out of condom prevention if they wish; this seems harmless. Another sets rigid numerical percentages for how much of the money should go to abstinence, which could bog everything down. The Senate will then have to haggle over how much money will go to U.S. organizations and how much to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
After the president's speech, Senate leaders promised to get a bill out by Memorial Day. Let's hope they make good on that, because the casualty count the president cited just keeps ticking up.