July (Web-only) 2004

ARTICLE TOOLS

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Driving to work this morning, Weblog was listening to the CBS radio news roundup. It's not available online, but the very brief story touched on Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's speech at the International AIDS Conference this week. CBS's two- or three-sentence summary was that Museveni supported abstinence in combating the disease, but that such a policy is widely opposed.

The story seemed grossly underreported and misleading—far more so than even most 10-second news blurbs on the top-of-the-hour roundups. Surely AIDS activists don't oppose the "A" in Uganda's famous and successful ABC policy: Abstinence, Being faithful, and Condoms.

And surely the activists could not have been too angered by Museveni's comments at the conference. "The principle of condoms is not the ultimate solution," he said. "In some cultures sexual intercourse is so elaborate that condoms are a hindrance. … Let the condom be used by people who cannot abstain, cannot be faithful, or are estranged."

Actually, as it turns out, many activists do oppose the ABC approach. Associated Press reporter Vijay Joshi noted that the ABC proponents are outnumbered at the conference. Instead, what the conference is pushing is CNN: Condoms, Needles, Negotiating Skills.

"An abstinence-until-marriage program is not only irresponsible, it's really inhumane," said U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Ca.).

Radical? Yep. But even more telling is a debate on Friday at the South Dakota State Library board meeting. Gov. Mike Rounds urged the board to drop a Planned Parenthood link on the library system's website for teens, citing concerns from Roman Catholic Bishop Robert Carlson.

"I trust that you will ...