1.   For years, California hospitals have tested newborns for metabolic disorders that can be treated with special diets.

2.   In an announcement that stunned Washington, the Clinton administration last week suspended a seven-year program to test newborns anonymously for the AIDS virus.

3.   Most states have tested newborns for HIV in an effort to track the spread of the disease.

4.   Rhode Island officials say their family-friendly program to test all newborns for hearing impairment could be easily adapted in other states.

5.   Sets up a program to test newborns for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and notify their mothers of the results.

6.   The state now tests all newborns for HIV to compile statistics about the spread of the virus that causes AIDS, but it does not reveal results to parents.

7.   But only four states routinely test all newborns for MCAD.

8.   But which newborns are tested for which disease depends on where they live.

9.   Thus, testing newborns was a way to track AIDS in young women and find the areas most in need of help.