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Obama ends HIV travel and immigration ban
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10/30/09 02:11 PM ET
President Obama announced today that he'll end the travel and immigration ban on HIV-positive individuals.
The ban was implemented in 1987. Obama announced the decision at a signing ceremony for the Ryan White Act, which funds HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs.
Opponents of the ban had tried unsuccessfully to overturn the ban in the early 90s.
Obama said the ban was "rooted in fear rather than fact."
"We talk about reducing the stigma of this disease, yet we've treated a visitor living with it as a threat," Obama said. "If we want to be the global leader in combatting HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it."
The President said lifting the ban would help keep families together.
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