Foreign Aid for Both Abstinence, Condom Promotion Seen as 'Ironic'
by Jim Brown
November 7, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A report says billions of U.S. dollars are being spent on abortion and birth-control programs in Third World countries as part of President Bush's global AIDS plan.The New York Times reports that although one-third of money earmarked for the global AIDS plan just be spent on abstinence programs, the U.S. government's distribution of condoms has risen to more than $400 million a year. According to the Times, Alabama's congressional delegation has preserved several hundred factory jobs by insisting that the U.S. Agency for International Development purchase condoms made in their state.
Dr. Robert Walley is founder and medical director of MaterCare International, an organization of Catholic health professionals that is based in Canada. Walley says it is unfortunate that most foreign aid is going toward "reproductive health" and "safe motherhood" programs.
"You know, I always think that I'm a hero medically if I tell people, 'You must quit smoking; it's going to kill you,'" says the physician. "And I don't wish to be vulgar about it, but I don't sort of say, 'Well, you can use a filter tip.' We know it kills you," he continues. "[But] to tell people that they should use a condom is just wrong."
According to the MaterCare founder, foreign aid policies promoting condom use are preventing women in under-developed countries from receiving basic obstetric care.
"It's ironic, isn't it, that all of us want to do something about maternal mortality and birth injury, which is a huge problem in developing countries," Walley points out. "But while we offer life and love and hope, their side seems to offer the killing of the unborn child as a solution to maternal deaths rather than provide essential obstetrics which everybody would get in North America."
Walley says it is a policy adopted by Western governments to the detriment of people in developing countries.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
