WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday said the government cannot force private health organizations to denounce prostitution as a condition to get taxpayer money to fight AIDS around the world.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court, said the anti-prostitution pledge in a 2003 AIDS funding law improperly restricts the groups’ First Amendment rights.
Four organizations that work in Africa, Asia and South America challenged the provision in the law, arguing their work has nothing to do with prostitution.
The Obama administration countered that it is reasonable for the government to give money only to groups that oppose prostitution and sex trafficking because they contribute to the spread of HIV and AIDS. It said that if groups were not held to a pledge to oppose prostitution and sex trafficking, they could spend private funds in a way that might undermine the government’s mission.
But Roberts, in the 6-2 decision, wrote that the pledge “goes beyond preventing recipients from using private funds in a way that would undermine the federal government.”
“It requires them to pledge allegiance to the government’s policy of eradicating prostitution,” he wrote. That, Roberts wrote, the government cannot do.
