Don't Come to America If you are HIV Positive
That's what is being said of Jeff Sessions opposition to the $50 billion AIDS Bill. Read Today's Article in The Birmingham News.
He is opposition to removing the ban that is currently in place. We didn't even know there was a ban.
This comes despite bipartisan support as well as support of the Bush administration. Furthermore , A coalition of Religious leaders said
"Decades of experience has made it abundantly clear that behavior change, not border control measures, will stop the spread of AIDS,"
Amen to that.
Even the White House said in a policy statement
"Congress and the American people should be proud of this compassionate program, which is bringing hope and healing to millions of people around the world,"
Okay, so getting rid of Jeff Sessions is an uphill battle this fall. But we can't win if we don't try. Donate a few bucks to his opponent the more Progressive minded Vivian Davis Figures.
In addition to the overall cost, Sessions also is objecting to a provision that would end the ban on HIV-positive people immigrating to the United States.
I'm a bit torn on this one. We don't let people with other diseases into the country, whether they are contagious or not. I certainly feel for people with AIDS and despise descrimination, but if we make an exception in this case then wouldn't we have to make exceptions for diseases like Hepatitis?
The vast majority of people who get HIV/AIDS get it through unprotected sex, i.e. risky behavior. Do we think that just because they come to the U.S. their behavior will change?
We should certainly work on changing the behaviors in Africa and other places through funding of these education and contraceptive/protection programs, but it may be a bit premature at this time to yank the AIDS ban on immigrants.
It's not yet a smart or safe thing to do.
July 15, 2008 2:35 PM | Reply | Permalink