United Nations Wants Abortion Businesses to Join Anti-AIDS Campaigns 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 10, 2004
New York, NY (LifeNews.com) — A new United Nations analysis released Wednesday suggests that campaigns to combat the worldwide spread of AIDS would be benefited if abortion businesses got involved in the efforts.
"Integrating HIV and other reproductive health services seems obvious, but is often not recognized at the program and policy level," said Purnima Mane, Director for Social Mobilization and Information for the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
The new analysis was jointly published by the U.N., the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the UNFPA, and the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood in the U.S.
It calls for help from abortion businesses like IPPF to "overcom[e] financial shortfalls and resistance to public acknowledgment of women’s and adolescents’ sexuality" because they "offer a wide range of services to millions of women."
Since half of the adults worldwide who are living with AIDS are women in their reproductive years, it would be a good idea to enlist the pro-abortion groups to help fight the spread of the deadly disease, the report indicates.
The suggestion won’t go over well with pro-life advocates.
Previous participation by abortion businesses in an HIV/AIDS program in Africa prompted the Bush administration to cut funding for it.
In August 2003, President Bush cut off funding for an AIDS program because Marie Stopes International, a British-based abortion business, was involved. Marie Stope’s work with the UNFPA and its support for China’s population control policy of forced abortions and sterilizations also "touched off similar concerns" according to a State Department official.
"This action again shows the commitment of the Bush Administration to keep U.S. dollars away from being used to promote or perform abortions, in particular, to keep the AIDS initiative free of abortion," Darla St. Martin, of the National Right to Life Committee, told LifeNews.com at the time.
The Bush administration did not want to cut off funding entirely to the AIDS program, but Marie Stopes refused to leave the coalition of agencies that was administering it.
St. Martin told LifeNews.com the groups "obviously care more for their commitment to abortion than they do about the plight of the victims of AIDS."
Instead of involving pro-abortion groups, the Bush administration has encouraged abstinence campaigns to combat the spread of the AIDS virus.
"The promotion of behavior change — encouraging abstinence and fidelity — is integral to our fight against HIV/AIDS," U.S. ambassador Sichan Siv said in a speech at a recent United Nations general assembly meeting.
The U.S. will have spent over $1.4 billion on "international health assistance" and committed an additional $15 billion to AIDS relief programs through 2008.
