A new UNAIDS report confirms pro-life fears that the fight against HIV is being hijacked to promote access to abortion as the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is up for a 5-year congressional renewal. The reimagined PEPFAR program is detailed in Reimagining PEPFAR's Strategic Direction Fulfilling America’s Promise to End the HIV/AIDS Pandemic by 2030 and includes, “Where possible, PEPFAR will integrate HIV programming into strengthened public health systems to manage…sexual reproductive health, rights and services.”

Missing from the $30 billion budget is Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA), formerly known as the Mexico City policy, a policy that prevented PEPFAR funds, and all U.S. health funds, from going to international organizations that perform or promote abortion. Without the policy, international NGOs working on AIDS can receive U.S. funding and use it for non-abortion work while using their own money for abortion.

When President Biden rescinded the policy he was applauded by UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima who said, “Rescinding the PLGHA is a strong demonstration of the new United States Administration’s commitment to supporting women to claim their rights and to access sexual and reproductive health and rights information and services.”

“We look forward to working closely with the new United States Administration to ensure that all women and girls can exercise their human rights and get the sexual and reproductive health information and services they want and need.”

The new report from UNAIDS—a key PEPFAR partner— “The Path that Ends AIDS”, claims that AIDS can be ended by 2030 and outlines the path to get there but regrettably, that “path” is willing to sacrifice the lives of future generations. It includes the integration of HIV with the radical sexual and reproductive health and rights agenda. We know from Ms Byanyima’s euphoria at Biden’s elimination of PFLHA that sexual and reproductive health and rights information and services includes access to abortion.

Common pro-abortion euphemisms are used in the Path that Ends AIDS. It states that the integration of HIV and sexual and reproductive health services are needed for girls and young women to “make their own decisions about their bodies and protect their health’ and clarifies that this includes “whether or not they are living with HIV”. How often have pro-abortion activists shouted “My body, my choice”?

UNAIDS seeks to reach “all women with services” and calls for a shift in access to services stating: “Also needed are other shifts in service delivery, including making integrated antenatal care and HIV services—and sexual and reproductive health services generally—more accessible and convenient, especially for adolescent girls and women…”

UNAIDS emphasizes that HIV prevention services “should be delivered alongside stepped-up efforts to deliver rights-based sexual and reproductive health services…”

UNAIDS also states that the “most common forms of integration involve HIV services and services for TB, maternal and child health, sexual and reproductive health, and primary care services.”

Winnie Byanyima states the close partnership UNAIDS has with PEPFAR: “The path to ending AIDS is clear…The building blocks of a successful AIDS response come together through partnerships between countries, communities, donors including the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Global Fund to Fight, AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) and the private sector.”

UNAIDS highlights another HIV report, hosted on its website, called The HIV 2025 Prevention Road Map by the Global HIV Prevention Coalition, a coalition convened by the Executive Director of UNAIDS and Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of UNFPA; both UN agencies are members of UNAIDS. Other members of the coalition include PEPFAR, IPPF, Gates Foundation and Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (RHSC).



The Coalition’s Road Map also seeks to have HIV prevention services delivered alongside stepped-up efforts to “deliver rights-based sexual and reproductive health services”. The term “rights-based sexual and reproductive health services” is commonly used by abortion proponents and includes access to abortion as explained by WHO, a member of UNAIDS, as it addresses lawmakers in Towards a supportive law and policy environment for quality abortion care: evidence brief.

WHO states, “With a clear understanding of the relevant law and its application, law-and policy-makers can identify ways in which the law, policy and other elements of an enabling environment could be organized to maximize access to SRHR, including quality abortion care, to align with the recommendations in the WHO guidance and with international human rights law. Legislators and policy-makers will thus be equipped to undertake context-appropriate, rights-based and effective reform to ensure supportive law and policy for access to quality abortion.”

The Road Map’s targets for 2025 include under Sexual and reproductive health: “Ensure that 95% of women and girls of reproductive age have their HIV and sexual and reproductive health care service needs met.”

It calls for “promotion of the integration of HIV prevention into essential related services to improve HIV outcomes” emphasizing “Of particular relevance is the integration of HIV prevention services with services for sexual and reproductive health…”

Of troubling concern, the Road Map seeks to “strengthen synergies between HIV and other endeavours, such as those taken under the Education Plus Initiative and the Generation Equality Forum Action Coalitions, as well as a range of sexual and reproductive health and rights initiatives.”

Generation Equality Forum, founded and overseen by UNAIDS member UN Women, has an radical pro-abortion Action Coalition on Bodily Autonomy and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights that seeks to “increase the availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of comprehensive abortion and contraception services” within a comprehensive SRHR framework. Its vision is to “support removal of restrictive policies and legal barriers, ensuring 50 million more adolescent girls and women live in jurisdictions where they can access safe and legal abortion by 2026.”

It also seeks to strengthen girls’, women’s and feminist organizations and networks “to promote and protect bodily autonomy and SRHR action”.

These two AIDS reports provide evidence validating pro-life concerns that the fight against AIDS is being hijacked to promote access to abortion. Integration of HIV with sexual and reproductive health and rights needs to be opposed and stopped for the lives of all, born and unborn.

Respect for the dignity of all lives demands life-affirming health care to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS that does not include access to the destructive act of abortion.