Pro-Lifers for PEPFAR

This is what makes America great

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

I’m in the New York Times today with three coauthors, making the pro-life case for PEPFAR. This the the America-led program for treating HIV/AIDS globally and stopping transmission. Of all the foreign aid programs that have been distrupted under DOGE, it’s got the strongest, most urgent case for preservation.

I’m making that case alongside Dr. Matthew Loftus (a family medicine physician at the PCEA Chogoria Hospital in Kenya), Dr. Kristin Collier (an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan) and Kathryn Jean Lopez of the National Review Institute.

Before PEPFAR was created in 2003, half of children in Africa infected with H.I.V. at birth died before their second birthday. Instead of growing chubby and pulling up to stand for the first time, these children became thin and weak, at risk of dying from complications of infections as minor as the common cold.

We think PEPFAR should be a special priority of the pro-life movement. Its treatments empower mothers to protect their unborn children and provide hope that the births of these children will be moments of joy, not despair. It’s the same kind of hope we’ve tried to give mothers when we’ve stood outside abortion clinics to offer alternatives, or counseled women through high-risk pregnancies.

Every day, PEPFAR helps about 430 pregnant women get an H.I.V. diagnosis early enough to reduce their viral load and prevent transmission to their babies. If PEPFAR’s work remains interrupted for the full 90-day foreign aid pause, an estimated 136,000 babies will be infected with H.I.V. at birth who otherwise would not be.

Read the whole thing at the Times

While we were drafting our essay (and before we needed to cut it by about a third to fit the NYT’s needs), I circulated an early version here and over 100 pro-lifers added their names as signatories. They are listed at the bottom of this email.

I wanted to recruit specifically pro-life writers and signatories because I think PEPFAR aligns well with how the pro-life movement thinks (or should think) about what is owed to a woman and her baby. The opening line of our op-ed is:

Every H.I.V.-positive pregnancy is a crisis pregnancy.

In a crisis pregnancy, the crisis almost always precedes the pregnancy—though the pregnancy may exacerbate the crisis. Women struggling with poverty or disease deserve support whether or not they are pregnant. But when a baby is part of the crisis, it is all the more urgent to offer support rather then just to offer to destroy the baby and leave her, alone, in the crisis.

It’s thrilling to me that HIV is a crisis we have the tools to solve. It comes down to our willingness to deploy our resources and the trust we earn (or lose) with the people we’re trying to help.

Below is a list of other pro-lifers who are calling on the State Department to fully free PEPFAR to do this lifesaving work.

Pro-Lifers for PEPFAR

Aberdeen Livingstone

Aidan Breen

Alexi Sargeant

Andrew Brandt

Anna Eubanks

Anna Katherine Howell, Graduate student at Franciscan University of Steubenville

Anne Davis

Anne Horn

Ashleen Menchaca-Bagnulo, Texas State University

Bobby Brandon

Bria Sandford

Bruce Cole

Caitrin Keiper

Carol Rudie

Catherine Shannon

Claire Blaszak

Conner Clark, Department of State

Dane Garrett, American Solidarity Party, Maryland & DC Chairman

Daniela Gonzalez Suarez

Dawn Brotherton

Dawn Coury

Denise Daniels, Wheaton College

Douglas Johnson

Dr David Bradford, Retired Australian Sexual Health Physician

Elizabeth Skalitzky

Eve Tushnet

Exia Stephens

Gary Chorpenning

Glen Van Andel, Calvin University

Grace Fredman

Hannah Martinez

Harry D'Agostino

Jake Roberts

James J. Heaney, De Civitate (decivitate.substack.com)

Jane Scharl

Jenna Gyorfi

Jeremy Erickson

Joel Denney, Member, Co-Cathedral of St. John John the Evangelist

John Graveline

John Soriano, University of Dallas

Jonathan Bauman, Christians for Impact

Jonathan Bayley

Jonathan Lewis

Joshua Brown, Inova health services

Joyce Ribbens Campbell, Association for Public Justice

Justin Moore, Peace Hill Christian Fellowship

Karyl Savageau

Kathy Kroeger

Kelly Endicott

Kelly Laudenslager

Kelly Rosati

Kevin Bui

Kim Daniels, Director, Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, Georgetown University

Kristen Day, Democrats For Life

Kristen Grant

Lara Mason

Leah Fannon

Leah Wolter

Linda Ribbens

Luis Martinez

Marc Andreas

Maria Gavin

Maria McFadden Maffucci, Human Life Review

Marianne Cline

Marjorie Gray

Matt Dunn

Matthew Cyriac

Matthew Pietropaoli

Matthew Volpenhein

Megan Clark

Megan Judt

Meghan Howie

Melanie Bettinelli

Micah Murphy

Michele Hutton

Michelle Kirtley, Co-Chair, Association for Public Justice

Mikkel Paulson, Eckerd College Undergraduate

Nadja Wolfe

Nafeesa Dawoodbhoy

Nicholas Kibler Myers, American Solidarity Party, state leader

Nicholas Raupp

P. Jay Roddy, Jr.

Patricia Walsh

Patrick Casey

Rachael Koev

Rebecca Knickmeyer Santelli

Rebecca O’Herron

Rebecca Stapleford

Reid Kelley

Richard Salensky

Richard Snyder

Robert Christian, Editor, Millennial

Robert Osburn, Wilberforce International Institute

Ron Belgau, Spiritual Friendship

Ryan Jackson

Sara Hodsden, Clergy, Presbyterian Church USA

Sarah Burchart

Sarah Greene

Sarah Hamersma, Syracuse University

Sarah Lee

Sarah Quinlan

Shannon Last

Sharon Piasecki

Sophia White

Stacy Volpenhein

Stanley Matthew Stolte

Teresa Foley

Terrence Woodnorth

Theresa Oei

Thomas Howes, Princeton University

Thomas Irwin

Tish Warren Harrison, Anglican priest and author

Wesley Hill, Western Theological Seminary

Whitney Westerfield, Former State Senator (KY)