Sponsoring an AIDS orphan - be an informed donor

[jenfer47]

World Vision is running a TV ad campaign urging people to sponsor an AIDS orphan today. A fine idea, but please do it through Foster Parents Plan or Save the Children instead. World Vision is part of the rightwing Christian evangelical movement that is trying to stop the AIDS epidemic through abstinence (i.e., wishful thinking), as opposed to

Comments

[jenfer47]

Yes, but people are far, far from 100% effective at being abstinent! In judging the effectiveness of any kind of protection, you also have to consider how likely people are to actually use it. Though abstinence pledges often persuade young people to postpone becoming sexually active for a couple of years, when they finally do succumb to temptation, they are less likely to use a condom or any other form of birth control. Because so little useful information is conveyed in many abstinence courses, some people who have taken abstinence pledges even manage to talk themselves into believing that anal sex - the most risky activity of all for HIV - counts as "abstinence