The Department Of State, Foreign Operations And Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2008
Floor Speech
THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 21, 2007)
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Ms. McCOLLUM of Minnesota. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to urge my colleagues to oppose the Pitts amendment.
HIV/AIDS is devastating Africa and other parts of the developing world. We all share that. We share that knowledge. We can be proud that t he United States is leading the way in addressing the global AIDS pandemic. We are providing support for millions of people through treatment, care and prevention programs.
But we need to take a very practical approach, and the bill before us does that by including the language that gives the President flexibility to implement prevention programs that fit the country's current AIDS pandemic.
I thought it was very compelling to hear the story that was just shared on the floor by my Republican colleag ue about how a wife had become infected, not because of her behavior, but because of her husband's behavior.
I am particularly concerned about the 40 percent of new HIV/AIDS infections in youth between the ages of 15 and 24. Women and girls make up 60 percent of all the infections, and 76 percent of the infections among those are between the ages of 15 and 24. Now, abstinence could be an option, but we know that marriage is not a protective factor.
Listen carefully to this: over the next 10 years, m ore than 100 million girls in the developing countries will be married before their 18th birthday, some as young as age 14, mostly to older men, often against their will. These are forced child brides.
These girls will have a significantly higher rate of HIV infection than their peers who are sexually active and their unmarried peers.
We should give these young girls the opportunity to protect themselves, to save their own lives. I believe that we must make sure that our prevention programs address their needs and provide alternatives. For these young girls and women, abstinence is just not an option. They need programs that provide them with full information to protect themselves. We, in Congress, must do all that we can to stop child marriage; but, in the meantime, we need to protect these young women.
I urge my colleagues to oppose the Pitts amendment.
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