Abstinence in HIV infection and a US Congresswomen

The following article from the AIDS conference in Bangkok caught my attention. Ugandi President Yoweri Museveni promotes abstinence over condoms as the ways to prevent new AIDS infections. However, this has sparked fury by the those who think condoms are answers to all problems.

U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee, the only member of Congress to attend the week-long meeting, accused the Bush administration of using ideology, not science, to dictate policy. She said the U.S. AIDS initiative requires that one-third of prevention funding go to "abstinence until marriage" programs. "In an age where five million people are newly infected each year and women and girls too often do not have the choice to abstain, an abstinence until marriage program is not only irresponsible, it's really inhumane," Lee said. "Abstaining from sex is oftentimes not a choice, and therefore their only hope in preventing HIV infection is the use of condoms," she added.

So if the girls in African countries “do not have the choice to abstain,” as claimed by Congresswomen Lee, then they are being raped. So if AIDS is being spread through widespread rape, then why is this not a topic of discussion. Secondly, if the girls are being raped, does Congresswomen Lee also think the rapists will also stop to use a condom?

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040712/wl_nm/aids_dc_6