Two Important Rulings on AIDS

Federal judges in New York and the District of Columbia have declared unconstitutional a 2003 rule that limits the way U.S. health groups spend their privately raised money if they want to get federal money for international AIDS work.

Under this sweeping edict, nonprofits that want government support must sign a pledge saying they oppose prostitution and will not spend any money — public or private — on programs the government does not approve of. Many groups are wary of signing, not because they favor prostitution, but because it is an offense to free speech, and because they are worried about harming vital programs aimed at teaching prostitutes about condom use.

In the New York case, one of the plaintiffs challenging the prostitution pledge, Alliance for Open Society International, told the court it was constrained from fully participating in an AIDS conference that included a discussion of the proper legal regime for prostitution. Another group, Pathfinder International, said it feared it would lose public money for other projects if it used private money to collaborate with overseas groups that have a track record of engaging prostitutes in AIDS prevention.

The plaintiff in the second case, DKT International, a nonprofit family planning and AIDS prevention group that works in 11 countries, saw one of its federal grants canceled after it declined to sign the pledge. It said it refused to sign because it was concerned about stigmatizing and alienating sex workers whom the program was trying to reach.

The judges in both cases found that extending the requirement to privately raised money went too far, violating the First Amendment.