The Department of Justice has temporarily withdrawn the government's appeal of a federal court injunction prohibiting enforcement of the anti-prostitution pledge under the U.S. Global AIDS Policy. The pledge was enacted as part of the U.S. Global AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003, requiring organizations that receive federal funds under the Act to pledge their "opposition to prostitution." In 2005, the Alliance for Open Society International and Pathfinder International filed suit challenging the constitutionality of the policy, arguing that it violated the First Amendment.

President Obama's FY 2010 budget request includes a total of $435 million, up from $390 million in FY 2009, for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). The President also requested the elimination of the current restrictions on non-LSC funds, including the restrictions on attorney's fees and participation in class action suits. For more on these restrictions, click here.

The Health and Human Services Department will revise a controversial regulation finalized under the Bush administration. The rule, which took effect Jan. 20, gives health care providers the right to refuse to provide women with access to or information about reproductive health services, if the provider objects on moral or religious grounds. It is sometimes called the provider conscience rule.