This week's compromise between President Bush and House Democrats on PEPFAR -- the Administration's HIV-AIDS relief bill for sub-Saharan Africa -- represents only a partial victory. The legislation will increase funding to $50 billion from the $30 billion suggested by the White House, and it will remove a provision that required one-third of all the money to be spent on abstinence-only programs. But contraceptives and abortions are still banned from being paid for by PEPFAR funds. This is a severe limitation that undercuts Bush's own promise to support the ABC method of prevention (Abstinence, Be Faithful, Condoms). And if PEPFAR nations spend less than half of their alloted funds on abstinence and monogamy messaging, they must justify that decision to Congress. For more, see the Washington Post's report. --Dana Goldstein
