A U.S.-based family-planning charity is formally challenging Washington's "anti-prostitution" policy, calling it an unconstitutional infringement of speech that is undermining international efforts to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS.  The group, DKT International, filed its lawsuit in district court against the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and its administrator, challenging the requirement that U.S. and foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) receiving USAID funding adopt a policy "explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking". No one pretends that [the US anti-prostitution policy] will contain or ameliorate the darker aspects of the world's oldest profession. It represents posturing by American politicians who are increasingly seen around the world as patronizing, bullying, and obsessed with sex. USAID adopted the rule requirement in June, as one of a number of policies advocated by the "pro-life" religious right. Other George W. Bush administration initiatives include endorsement of the so-called Mexico Protocol, which forbids abortion counseling in family planning programs overseas. U.S. observance of the protocol -- termed "the global gag rule" by family planning professionals -- was rescinded during the Bill Clinton administration (1992-2000) but reauthorized by Bush on his first day in office in January 2001. Under the rule, foreign family planning agencies may not receive U.S. funds if, with their own funds, they counsel on or refer for abortion, advocate for more lenient abortion laws in their own country, or provide abortion services. DKT's president, Philip D. Harvey, said the anti-prostitution and sex trafficking policy "does a grave disservice to international AIDS-prevention programs and to those who carry them out. The policy does no good, and is clearly doing considerable harm." He told IPS, "I have found that non-governmental organizations around the world really despise this anti-prostitution pledge. In addition to making their work harder, it undermines their integrity, insults them really." For more on this href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0824-05.htm">story...