AIDS Plan Emphasizing Marital Sex OKd

Health and Human Services Secretary Otis R. Bowen on Monday approved the government’s long-awaited comprehensive AIDS education plan, which calls for federally sponsored information to encourage “responsible” sexual behavior “based on fidelity, commitment and maturity, placing sexuality within the context of marriage.”

The plan emphasizes local involvement in developing AIDS curricula, proposing that the federal government work with states and communities to provide information that can be used within school systems. For schools and colleges, the plan says, “our youth must understand that sexual activity and (intravenous) drug abuse can lead to AIDS.”

Parental Consent

“Any health information provided by the federal government that might be used in schools should teach that children should not engage in sex and should be used with the consent and involvement of the parents,” the report said.

The blueprint for a national education strategy against AIDS, which health officials have been drafting since November, had been the focus of a heated debate between the Public Health Service and the Education Department. Education Secretary William J. Bennett had criticized the health service approach as “clinically correct but morally empty.”

On Jan. 30, however, Bennett and Surgeon General C. Everett Koop issued a joint statement indicating that they had reconciled their philosophical differences and that both supported disseminating “the best scientific information about this disease and the ways in which it is transmitted.”

Anti-Bias Stand Deleted

The final report approved by Bowen eliminated a statement contained in an early draft saying that “AIDS is not an excuse to discriminate,” which Education Department officials had originally challenged as inconsistent with a ruling issued last June by the Justice Department.

“There was quite a debate over that line,” said one federal health official who requested anonymity.

But Dr. Robert Windom, assistant secretary for health, said the statement had been replaced by the phrase “there is no reason to avoid an infected person in ordinary social contact,” which he described as “more acceptable and understandable.”

However, the language does not address concerns about discrimination in employment and insurance that have been expressed by gay and civil rights groups.

Meese Inserts Statement

Also, the reference to “placing sexuality within the context of marriage,” which was not included in original drafts, was inserted at the insistence of Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, federal health officials said. Meese heads the Domestic Policy Council, an interagency advisory group that reviewed the report.

The plan, saying that “everyone must be aware of behavior that puts them at risk of infection,” targets school and college populations, groups at increased risk of becoming infected or transmitting the virus, and health care workers, for whom the plan says “there is some risk, albeit small.”

In this country, AIDS has primarily afflicted homosexual and bisexual men, intravenous drug users and their sexual partners.

Among other things, the plan proposes a mass media campaign that includes print materials and broadcast spot announcements, as well as the establishment of a clearinghouse on AIDS information to serve state and local AIDS program personnel and the public.

Destroys Immune System

AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, destroys the body’s immune system, leaving it powerless against certain cancers and otherwise rare infections. It is commonly transmitted through anal and vaginal sexual intercourse, through the sharing of unsterilized hypodermic needles and by woman to fetus during pregnancy.

As of Monday, 32,825 Americans had contracted AIDS, of whom 19,021 had died.