Abstinence under attack
AIDS: Changing sexual behavior as a way to fight AIDS gets a warning flag from the government’s chief accounting office
Mindy Belz

Lawmakers returning from a two-week recess face calls for action over a controversial report from the General Accountability Office (GAO) released earlier this month and perhaps waiting among stacks of backlogged congressional mail. The 87-page summation concludes that the Bush administration's support for abstinence programs in the treatment of AIDS is undermining other prevention strategies in AIDS crisis zones in Africa and elsewhere.

The report is a startling wake-up to faith-based organizations and others who have long pushed the so-called ABC approach (Abstinence, Be faithful, use Condoms) as a way to lower the spread of AIDS. It is a potential blow to one of the largest spending initiatives put forward by President George Bush. The audit itself is a surprise, coming barely two years into the program and with funding levels for abstinence programs still below the minimum level required by law. the rest