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posted by janrinok on Saturday December 09 2017, @08:03PM   Printer-friendly
from the price-of-democracy dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

In the heat of a late September day in Mozambique, southern Africa, we started filming a meeting of young charity volunteers. They had poured heart and soul into an ambitious project aimed at combating HIV and spreading a message about contraception in the province of Gaza.

Then, out of the blue, and as our cameras rolled, came an unexpected announcement: the volunteers' work was to end because of a new policy from the United States.

Under US President Donald Trump's "Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance" policy, any foreign aid organisation that wants US funds cannot "perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in foreign countries".

Sebastiao Muthisse from AMODEFA, the Mozambican Association for Family Development, outlined the dilemma the aid organisation faced. They were not prepared to sign Trump's so-called 'global gag rule 'forbidding mention of abortion, and, as a result, projects had to close. For the youngsters it appeared to make no sense. Surely lack of advice on family planning would lead to unwanted pregnancies? Why should they be censored when it came to speaking about abortion?

AMODEFA, a member association of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, has worked in Mozambique since 1989. Now, the stance both organisations have taken on the Trump rule means they face losing millions of dollars in US aid, and for AMODEFA in Mozambique two-thirds of their total budget, a sum of $2m.

It's led to hard decisions, particularly when it comes to critical work on HIV prevention.

In a suburb of the capital Maputo, we met Palmira Tembe. Members of Palmira's family have died; five grandchildren are now dependent on her, along with her 13 year-old-son Nelson.

AMODEFA has received funds to help people like Palmira disclose to their families that they have HIV, and to support their care. Palmira told us that prior to the charity's involvement she couldn't tell her son Nelson why he was sick. Now both take HIV medicine together.

We will have generations that are sick without knowing what they have – they will run the risk of transmitting HIV to other people because they do not know their HIV status. In a country where it's estimated that up to 13 percent of people aged between 15 and 49 live with HIV, the support of organisations like AMODEFA can be a lifeline. But the work AMODEFA does with families like Palmira's is under threat, due to their refusal to sign up to the Trump policy.

Project leader Dr Marcelo Kantu is concerned about the future. "We will have generations that are sick without knowing what they have - they will run the risk of transmitting HIV to other people because they do not know their HIV status," he told us.

Visiting those supported by charity work in Mozambique, there was a recurring question: With the heavy price organisations could pay for defying the new US policy, why not forget about the abortion issue, sign up to the Trump rule, and keep American aid money?

Activists and charity workers told us it was not only about upholding a principle of choice, it was about free speech and a law introduced in Mozambique to save lives.

Mozambique liberalised its law on abortion in 2014, not least due to the high numbers of maternal deaths from illegal terminations. Since then, abortion is a legal option up until 12 weeks of pregnancy, and in cases of rape or incest during the first 16 weeks.

But there is Mozambique's new law on the one hand, and the Trump policy on the other.

janrinok writes:

It has long been understood that aid donations are sometimes an integral part of foreign policy; aid can be given in the hope that the recipient will favour the donor further along the line, perhaps with trade agreements or regional political support.

But is this a case of the donor wanting to influence a law that has been passed by a democratically elected government? Should aid be used as a way of dictating 'democracy' to follow the donor's views rather than allowing each democratic nation to evolve into the nation that its own citizens want?


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  • (Score: 0, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday December 10 2017, @03:21AM (8 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday December 10 2017, @03:21AM (#607877) Journal

    No, you tiresome fuckstain, funding something that is immoral is what's immoral. Your "what you consider immoral" line is the very definition of "feelz over realz." Kill yourself already; you're stinkin' up the airwaves.

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday December 10 2017, @03:35AM (7 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Sunday December 10 2017, @03:35AM (#607884) Homepage Journal

    Oh, you're the one who holds the sacred Universal Morality tablets? Do tell us what they say then. Wait, you're not? You're going to need to explain how you came about this idea of one objective morality that all people must subscribe to then. Or you can stand there looking like a self-righteous church lady cunt. I'm good either way.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday December 10 2017, @05:18AM (6 children)

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday December 10 2017, @05:18AM (#607908) Journal

      You lack the will and intelligence to examine ethical and metaethical systems in any depth, and I suspect you may be a sociopath as well, making the entire idea of trying to talk sense into you utterly moot.

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
      • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @07:16AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @07:16AM (#607922)

        ...and and you stink too!

      • (Score: 1, Troll) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday December 10 2017, @11:43AM (4 children)

        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Sunday December 10 2017, @11:43AM (#607968) Homepage Journal

        Tell us more, Church Lady [youtube.com]! Give unto us the one true morality!

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday December 11 2017, @06:26PM (3 children)

          by Freeman (732) on Monday December 11 2017, @06:26PM (#608366) Journal

          You could just go by 10 laws written on stone by the hand of God. Though, I'm thinking you're not into that line of reasoning.

          --
          Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
          • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday December 12 2017, @12:20AM (2 children)

            by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Tuesday December 12 2017, @12:20AM (#608553) Homepage Journal

            They're mostly good advice but, no, they're not the boss of me.

            --
            My rights don't end where your fear begins.
            • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday December 13 2017, @05:43AM (1 child)

              by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday December 13 2017, @05:43AM (#609105) Journal

              And I just want to say, It may be the case that TMB has attempted to silence another voice of reason here on SoylentNews. We get no notices, but if Azumi has been mod-banned, it is time for all true Soylentils to rise up and defend her, by modding down every deplorable conservative sockpuppet bastard on this site, or at least TMB. He deserves it. He is a mongrel. Not even a pure Cherokee. And he is against free speech. Mod him down. Now. Repeatedly. For Great Justice!