HIV and childbearing.1. Uncertain risks and bitter realities: the reproductive choices of HIV-infected women.
Although most babies born to women with HIV will not develop AIDS, many health professionals and segments of the public object when these women will not forgo pregnancy. Such a view fails to consider fully the cultural, political, and socioeconomic contexts in which seropositive women make reproductive choices. HIV infection is only one of many conditions of chronic disease that can be passed from a woman to her fetus, and should not be singled out as a target for coercive policies. Rather, government and society have an obligation to empower women to protect themselves against HIV infection in the first place, and to offer them options for self-esteem and achievement independent of reproduction.
Levine
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Citizens Commission on AIDS for New York City and Northern New Jersey, NY 10013.
Dubler
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D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003376:Counseling; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009014:Morals; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D037841:Pregnant People; D012941:Social Responsibility; D012945:Social Values; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D035501:Uncertainty; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D035141:Voluntary Programs; D035862:Vulnerable Populations