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Global Health Council Update on Second Ruling Against the Anti-Prostitution Pledge

A second federal judge has ruled unconstitutional the government's policy of forcing U.S. health groups to denounce prostitution as a condition for receiving funds for international AIDS work. The most recent ruling was issued yesterday in Washington, D.C., by U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, who found that the regulation "casts too wide a net and is not narrowly tailored," forcing aid organizations to "parrot the government's policies," and preventing them from using even privately raised funds to assist sex workers with AIDS prevention.

At issue in the case is a requirement that public health groups receiving U.S. funds pledge their opposition to prostitution in order to continue their life-saving HIV prevention work. Under this requirement, recipients of U.S. funds are forced to adhere to official U.S. policy even in their privately funded speech regarding the most effective ways to engage high-risk groups in HIV prevention.

The Washington, D.C., case was brought by DKT International, a not-for-profit organization that works in 11 countries. Its representative in Vietnam refused to sign the anti-prostitution pledge. An earlier ruling against the pledge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on May 9 found in favor of the Alliance for Open Society International (AOSI) and Pathfinder International. The two rulings issued only apply to the plaintiffs in each case, but they do provide a precedent for other U.S.-based organizations receiving U.S. HIV/AIDS funds. Foreign organizations must still comply with the anti-prostitution loyalty oath as a condition of receiving U.S. HIV/AIDS assistance because they are not covered under U.S. constitutional protections.

See the Council's statement on the initial ruling against the anti-prostitution pledge in our press release.

The Global Health Council is the world's largest membership alliance dedicated to saving lives by improving health throughout the world. The Council serves and represents thousands of public health professionals from more than 100 countries on six continents.