U.S. Global Aids Funding and its Discontents: Why the Supreme Court Must Strike Down the Anti-Prostitution Pledge
3 Pages Posted: 14 Jul 2015
Date Written: June 11, 2013
Abstract
On April 22, 2013, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments in U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) v. Alliance for Open Society International, Inc., a case whose outcome will affect international efforts to safeguard the health of sex workers, a marginalized population in the global HIV/AIDS response. At the case’s core rests the fate of the U.S. “anti-prostitution pledge,” a Congressional requirement attached to the 2003 United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act that forces U.S. and international-based organizations receiving U.S. global AIDS funding to adopt policies “opposing prostitution and sex trafficking.” The anti-prostitution pledge also prohibits these groups from using their private funds to engage in undefined activities that “promote” sex work.
Keywords: Sex Work, Anti-Prostitution Pledge, AIDS, United States
JEL Classification: K00
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation