HIV Meds are Back for Now

As of Janurary 29, a memo was announced by Marco Rubio for the allowing of “life-saving humanitarian assistance” while the 90-day foreign aid freeze continues. Good thing a lot of people won’t die from lack of life-saving medication even though it was completely avoidable in the first place. This means that HIV medication distribution will resume, though it is unclear at this time if PrEP is included in this allowance.

As soon as Trump took office, he signed an executive order that placed a “90-day pause in United States foreign development assistance” so that each program can be assessed for “consistency with United States foreign policy.” The order states that “The United States foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests … (or) values.” So all foreign assistance programs funded by the U.S. were halted, and this order included providing HIV and PrEP medication distribution. According to the EO, these services “serve to destabilize world peace” by … providing people with the care they need.

Rubio was clear in his memo that the allowance would not extend “to activities that involve abortions, family planning conferences, administrative costs … gender or DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) ideology programs, transgender surgeries, or other non-life saving assistance,” which actually are life-saving procedures. Trans youth are less likely to experience suicidal ideation if their gender if affirmed, whether it be through accessible medication or things like inclusive language in their community, and having an abortion can save the life of the pregnant person, especially if they would have experienced life-threatening complications with the pregnancy.

It’s seems like someone realized that being responsible for a large amount of deaths around the world would not be the best idea. Think about it, how does one exploit people in other countries if there are no people alive to exploit?