Bush's New Loyalty Oath Violates First Amendment

Washington, D.C. - August 12, 2005

PAI commends the lawsuit filed yesterday challenging the constitutionality of U.S. restrictions recently extended to U.S.-based organizations that provide HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

"Basing this policy shift on anything less than hard evidence is unacceptable," says Amy Coen, President and CEO of PAI. "It's high time civil society called into question the current administration’s support for ideology-driven policies that ignore successful and time-tested public health strategies. These policies are doomed to fail and squander U.S. funds."

The lawsuit, filed by DKT International, maintains that requiring U.S.-based organizations to adopt policies opposing sex trafficking and prostitution as a condition of receiving U.S. HIV/AIDS funds violates the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

Already required of foreign NGOs, Bush’s "loyalty oath" is only one in a series of ideologically driven policies that NGOs receiving U.S. funds are required to adopt – regardless of their own countries’ polices and laws. The Mexico City Policy is another such policy, but its restrictions currently apply only to foreign NGOs. Also known as the Global Gag Rule, the Mexico City Policy denies U.S. family planning funding to NGOs abroad that use other, non-U.S. funds to counsel, perform or advocate for safe and legal abortion. PAI research shows that this policy has limited access to family planning services and contraceptive supplies in areas where they are desperately needed.

"The gag rule has only made matters worse for women in the developing world and so will this new loyalty oath," says Terri Bartlett, Vice President for Public Policy and Strategic Initiatives at PAI.

PAI hopes the DKT lawsuit will stop the burgeoning trend of restrictive U.S. policies that carry severe global implications. "Recent positions taken by the U.S. in the global arena around HIV/AIDS prevention efforts clearly demonstrate an 'It's our way or no way' agenda," says Bartlett. "We know what has worked to stem the tide of the pandemic in countries ravaged by HIV/AIDS. Feel-good loyalty oaths that build a wedge and further stigmatize groups engaged in high-risk behaviors will not help us win the war against this disease."

Population Action International (PAI) works to improve individual well-being and preserve global resources by mobilizing political and financial support for population, family planning and reproductive health policies and programs.