What was John Boehner, the new Republican Speaker of the US House, thinking when he met with Randall Terry, recognizing him as a "prolife" leader?! Boehner has remarked before that while working as a kid in his family's tavern, he learned to deal with any character who came in the door. Well, there's a reason why taverns let in all manner of folks but still see fit to *bounce* some of those who come in the door. Why didn't Boehner show Terry the door?! Randall Terry is FAUX-LIFE. He is guilty of multiple, systematic behaviors that disrespect people's lives, including the sacred lives of his own gay son, pregnant daughters, and unborn grandchildren. His responses to violence against abortion providers are chilling as well. Please send an email of protest to John Boehner's office.
Good News on HIV/AIDS Pandemic, But Still a Long Way to Go
For World AIDS Day 2010, UNFPA reports the good news that new HIV infections have dropped 20 per cent over the last decade, thanks to effective prevention programs, which include condoms and education about safer sex. Deaths from the virus are also dropping.
These are just some of the reasons why All Our Lives belongs to the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition. Everyone who wants and needs condoms and safer sex education should be able to access them and have the social power to protect themselves, their sexual partners, and any children they might conceive from HIV/AIDS.
All Our Lives also supports the expansion of antiretroviral treatments, to everyone who needs them, at any stage of life, born or unborn. Where available these treatments have transformed lives and made them possible.
While welcoming the good news from UNFPA, I also ponder the overwhelming amount of progress that is yet to be made on the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. I remain haunted by something I bore witness to on World AIDS Day 1999, the unveling of the AIDS Quilt in Cape Town, South Africa.
How many new infections and deaths still have happened since that event? Why are they still happening, when we have evidence-based knowledge of how to prevent them?
Please do something. You can donate to South Africa’s Treatment Action Campaign, a world leader in defending the rights of HIV/AIDS-affected people. You can donate a Mother-Baby Pack to UNICEF USA, empowering a woman to protect her child from HIV before and after birth.