A study released on Sept. 24 reports that President Bush’s ideologies are once again trumping science, this time closing down international family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention programs. The study, Access Denied: U.S. Restrictions on International Family Planning, reports the Mexico City policy, also known as the global gag rule, has led to closed clinics, cuts in healthcare staff and dwindling medical supplies, leaving women, children and families without access to vital healthcare services. The study was a collaborative effort led by Population Action International, and examines the effects of Bush’s global gag rule on the reproductive health services in Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, and Romania. Hours after his inauguration, President Bush sent a memorandum to the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) directing that certain conditions be placed on assistance for family planning activities provided to foreign nongovernmental organizations. It was imposed on March 28, 2001, the 30th anniversary of Rowe v. Wade. The gag order restricts any organization that performs abortions, provides counseling or referral about them, or those that lobby for the practice from receiving assistance (both monetary and in-kind) from USAID. NGOs worldwide had a choice to either sign the order and continue receiving USAID funds, or not sign and lose the funds. NGOs that refused to sign also lost access to U.S. donated contraceptives, which could ultimately prevent recourse of abortion and protect the community from sexually transmitted infections (STIs). While one of the aims of the global gag rule is to prevent abortions, the report found that instead it causes women to seek them more frequently. And because these abortions are done without the proper healthcare services, many women end up dead or seriously injured. Furthermore, the study reports that many NGOs operate a family planning facility and HIV/AIDS prevention facility under the same roof. When the family planning operation loses funding the whole healthcare clinic gets shut down. Planned Parenthood of Ghana, Marie Stopes International Kenya, Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia, and the Planned Parenthood of Kenya are just a few NGOs that had to stop programs dealing with HIV/AIDS prevention because of Bush’s global gag rule. Some of the de-funded programs teach youth about how to be responsible parents, protect against HIV/AIDS and other STIs, and provide services for STI screening, treatment, HIV testing and counseling, along with other basic reproductive health care. On July 9th, the Senate voted 53-43 in favor of an amendment to the foreign aid bill that allows federal grantees doing international work to use non-grant funds to provide information about abortion or advocacy on abortion rights. A bill in the House, H.R. 2952, would repeal the global gag order but is stalled in the House Committee on International Relations.