The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is a crucial program that has been credited with saving over 25 million lives since its inception in 2003. It is the world’s largest health program dedicated to a single disease, HIV, and has been successful in distributing medicines, collecting data, and building partnerships with local governments and organizations in over 50 countries.
“If PEPFAR doesn’t get reauthorized, the program can continue — but it could send some pretty chilling messages to people in the field who depend on PEPFAR for life support,” said Jennifer Kates, director of global health and HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
PEPFAR’s reauthorization has become entangled in a domestic political fight in the United States. Republicans have raised allegations that the program’s funding is indirectly supporting abortions, a claim that health advocates, Democrats, and PEPFAR officials argue is baseless. Despite the Biden administration’s efforts to seek a “clean” five-year reauthorization without new policy restrictions, antiabortion advocacy groups have pushed for a one-year reauthorization with explicit abortion restrictions.
The logjam over PEPFAR reauthorization means that, while most of the program funding would remain intact, some provisions—including measures backed by conservatives—are set to expire. The fight is seen as broader than PEPFAR and reflects the larger politics surrounding abortion and electoral politics
The Republican congressman Christopher H. Smith, who previously supported PEPFAR, has now shifted his stance, claiming that the program has been “hijacked” to promote abortion abroad. However, the Biden administration has refuted these claims, stating that they are not inserting abortion into PEPFAR in any way. PEPFAR’s overseas partners and implementing organizations have expressed concern over this issue.
Smith said he began to grow concerned that PEPFAR was being “hijacked” after reading the program’s September 2022 strategic direction document and February 2023 guidance to local partners, which make brief mention of improving “sexual and reproductive health” — shorthand for abortion access, the congressman said — and encouraging local reforms.
“If PEPFAR doesn’t get reauthorized, the program can continue — but it could send some pretty chilling messages to people in the field who depend on PEPFAR for life support,” said Jennifer Kates, director of global health and HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
PEPFAR’s reauthorization has become entangled in a domestic political fight in the United States. Republicans have raised allegations that the program’s funding is indirectly supporting abortions, a claim that health advocates, Democrats, and PEPFAR officials argue is baseless. Despite the Biden administration’s efforts to seek a “clean” five-year reauthorization without new policy restrictions, antiabortion advocacy groups have pushed for a one-year reauthorization with explicit abortion restrictions.
The logjam over PEPFAR reauthorization means that, while most of the program funding would remain intact, some provisions—including measures backed by conservatives—are set to expire. The fight is seen as broader than PEPFAR and reflects the larger politics surrounding abortion and electoral politics
The Republican congressman Christopher H. Smith, who previously supported PEPFAR, has now shifted his stance, claiming that the program has been “hijacked” to promote abortion abroad. However, the Biden administration has refuted these claims, stating that they are not inserting abortion into PEPFAR in any way. PEPFAR’s overseas partners and implementing organizations have expressed concern over this issue.
Smith said he began to grow concerned that PEPFAR was being “hijacked” after reading the program’s September 2022 strategic direction document and February 2023 guidance to local partners, which make brief mention of improving “sexual and reproductive health” — shorthand for abortion access, the congressman said — and encouraging local reforms.
