July 3, 2020

Supreme Court Protects Federal Government's Right to Deny Funding to International Orgs Based on Policy

Supreme Court of the United States
Photo Credi: Jeff Kubina / Flickr
On June 29, the Supreme Court ruled in Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International, Inc that the United States government has the right to deny funding to international organizations that refuse to comply with policy guidelines. This has important implications for the federal government's right to stop providing funds to foreign organizations that support abortion.

Justices Brett Kavanaugh, John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch ruled in favor of the United States foreign aid agency USAID, which had one of its rules challenged by foreign organizations who argued their freedom of speech was being violated. The USAID policy in question required humanitarian organizations to have policies opposing prostitution and sex trafficking to receive US funding to help combat HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. When passing foreign aid legislation to fight these diseases, US congressmen understood that prostitution and sex trafficking had a negative impact on their spread, so they put this requirement in place to make sure the funds were being used more efficiently.

The SCOTUS decision declared that “as a matter of American constitutional law […] foreign citizens outside U.S. territory do not possess rights under the U.S. Constitution.” In other words, foreign organizations cannot claim that the US government is infringing upon their right to freedom of speech because the US constitution only provides rights to Americans.

This has important implications for the pro-life movement. The Mexico City Policy, which prevents US funding from going to pro-abortion groups overseas, is now supported by judicial precedent in addition to the Constitution and common sense.