Women are dying from preventable causes and the U.S. is contributing to the problem. This was the grave truth repeated at last Wednesday's hearing before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on the Global Gag Rule (Mexico City policy)-the first hearing of its kind in the last decade. Women are dying because the U.S. Global Gag Rule is preventing them from getting the reproductive health care and supplies they desperately need to prevent unwanted pregnancies. For the first time since President Bush took office, both houses of Congress have passed legislation to right this wrong.

Last week, experts from around the globe traveled to Washington to discuss an issue critical to the health of millions around the world--access to reproductive health supplies, notably contraceptives and condoms. At the invitation of USAID, the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (RHSC) gathered to strategize how to build support for reproductive health supplies in a time when the development agenda of donors and country governments continues to expand.

Over half a million women worldwide die every year in pregnancy or childbirth – largely from preventable causes. In the developing world, pregnancy remains the leading killer of women in their reproductive years. And for young girls between the age of 15 and 19, their chance of dying in childbirth is twice that of their peers in their 20's. In order for countries and donors to address global priorities like poverty eradication, HIV cessation, and economic growth, strong political will to improve the sexual and reproductive health of women is paramount.

At a heavily attended briefing in Congress last week, renowned experts Dr. Joachim Osur, of the Ipas African Alliance, and Matilda Owusu-Ansah, formally of the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG), addressed the damaging effects of the Global Gag Rule – highlighting the real, direct, and, more often than not, deadly impact of this policy in their respective countries.

PAI's recent study, The Shape of Things to Come: Why Age Structure Matters to a Safer, More Equitable World, was a hot topic in Washington last week when it drew a panel of experts to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The experts, including a Member of Congress and the heads of the Henry Stimson Center and the Population Reference Bureau, agreed: Demography can often be a powerful indicator for international development.

While today technically marks the first day of the government's fiscal year, the budget is still tied up in Congress's lengthy appropriations process. Looming over the new budget is the President's threat to veto a number of appropriations bills because of disagreements over funding and policy issues. Among those issues he opposes are provisions in the State-Foreign Operation Appropriations (foreign assistance) bill that repeal the destructive Global Gag Rule and expand access to contraceptives in poor nations. Tragically, the President has vowed to veto the entire $34 billion foreign assistance bill -- containing critical funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, humanitarian and peacekeeping programs in Darfur, and famine relief -- because of these pro- family planning provisions.

Peter Piot, head of UNAIDS, made the rounds in DC last week discussing how the global community can achieve the internationally agreed upon target of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010. His message has been clear: Without a massive scale-up of prevention programs, we will fall far short of addressing the growing feminization of this disease. PAI welcomes Dr. Piot and his salient message. Now consider the future of this epidemic in countries where men and women desire to protect themselves and plan the size of their families but do not have access to services and supplies-especially condoms and contraceptives-which would make that desire a reality.

HIV/AIDS is an issue of tremendous concern to the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) community. This shouldn't be news, but it bears repeating. And therefore, SRH initiatives are key to fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS. While stemming the tide of new HIV infections, these programs also curb child and maternal mortality, prevent the spread of other sexually transmitted infections and alleviate global poverty. So, why isn't SRHR a core component of every global initiative to fight HIV/AIDS? It should be. PAI has joined many in challenging the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to make it so.

Last week, despite President Bush's veto threat, the Senate passed the FY 2008 State-Foreign Operations Appropriations bill (by a vote of 81-12) that includes significant provisions overturning destructive policies on family planning and HIV/AIDS.

It's extremely rare for an organization to refuse funding, let alone $45 million. But that is exactly what CARE, a leading international relief organization, did last month when they refused U.S. government funding for food aid. According to a recent General Accountability Office report, the U.S. food aid program is seriously flawed. CARE agreed, finding that it hindered the development work they were trying to accomplish in the developing world. By challenging a policy they viewed as detrimental to their mission, CARE has put a spotlight on potential flaws in this U.S. policy – a spotlight that may even generate a change in policy.