For Immediate Release

Media Contact: Justin Burke - 213.201.1525

EMAIL:jburke@apla.org

AIDS PROJECT LOS ANGELES APPLAUDS PRESIDENT BUSH
FOR CHOOSING SCIENCE OVER POLITICS ON
INTERNATIONAL AIDS FUNDING BILL

April 29, 2003, Los Angeles -- AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) today applauded President George W. Bush’s support for a controversial $15 billion international AIDS funding bill that has met with stiff resistance from conservative lawmakers from his own party.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Illinois), authorizes spending $3 billion a year from 2004-08 to fight AIDS, and includes $1 billion in 2004 for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis an` Malaria.

“We are pleased that President Bush recognizes the role that science plays in HIV prevention in addressing the devastating international AIDS epidemic,” said Daniel C. Montoya, APLA’s Director of Government Affairs.

Conservative lawmakers object to the Hyde bills’ ABC – or “abstinence, be faithful, use condoms” -- approach to HIV prevention. Although ABC prevention education has successfully stemmed the AIDS epidemic in Uganda, conservatives say the measure’s abstinence-only provisions should be strengthened. The bill has also met with resistance from conservatives because it allows international organizations that counsel about abortion to receive U.S. funding, as long as their family planning programs are run separately.

“ APLA believes that comprehensive science-based HIV prevention is the only way to fight AIDS,” said Montoya. “Abstinence education is part of comprehensive prevention, but so is safer sex education and condom use.”

The Hyde bill could come to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives as early as May 1.

“We urge Congress to move as quickly as humanly possible on this bill,” Montoya said, “so that the Global Fund and other organizations fighting AIDS around the world can access the funding they so desperately need.”

AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), which this year marks 20 years of prevention, advocacy and service, provides direct services to more than 10,000 men, women and children living with HIV and AIDS in Los Angeles County. Services include prevention education, food banks, professional dental care, housing assistance, mental health counseling, and case management. APLA is a leader in the provision of bilingual HIV treatment information, in print and on the Internet, and advocates for effective AIDS-related policies and legislation on the local, state and federal level. For more information, please visit www.apla.org.

###