Sarah Wildman has an excellent piece on the consequences of Bush's domestic and international commitment to abstinence-only ideology. It's worth remembering that restoring the "Global Gag Rule" was the first major action Bush took as president, underscoring the high priority the modern Republican Party puts on reactionary conceptions of gender and sexuality, with bad consequences for women both inside and outside of the United States. Wildman details these consequences, which are particularly dire for women in the worst circumstances:
By 2002 USAID had ended shipments of contraceptives to 16 developing nations in Africa and Asia as a direct consequence of the gag rule.
Instead of ending abortions, the global gag rule pushed women into back alleys and undermined, even closed, organisations that would have counselled women on how not to get pregnant in the first place. By diminishing access to contraception, it was actually laying the groundwork for unsafe abortions. The global gag rule didn't just gag healthcare providers about abortion. It gagged them on contraception and education. Since 2002, the Bush administration has also withheld funding - to the tune of $39.7m - from the United Nations Population Fund, claiming - despite evidence to the contrary - that UNFPA is connected to forced abortions in China. The shortfall from the US has also helped undermine the spread of contraception and education around the world, particularly in Africa.
And everything about his record suggests that John McCain would continue Bush's awful policies.
--Scott Lemieux
