HIV & HAVING CHILDREN - RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES

Be HIV and beat the cops. 

This is the text from a brochure prepared and distributed by the National AIDS Council of Papua New Guinea. At first glance it seemed to be a great text to give advice to couples on having babies with HIV infection of one parent or more.

But on second reading, it is apparent that this is a strange and confusing brochure for young people to read. There is focus on rights but far less on responsibilities.

I have HIV. I want to have a baby. Is it possible? YES. People living with HIV have the same right to have children as all other people in PNG. If you or your partner have HIV and wish to become parents’ it is advisable to speak to a trusted doctor or health worker to get the correct advice on minimizing your baby’s chance of being born with HIV.

At the anti-natal clinic, they say I must have an AIDS test. Is this correct? NO! HIV testing is recommended for all pregnant women. If you know early in your pregnancy you have HIV, it is easier to make sure that you stay healthy and prevent passing the HIV to your baby.

Generally an AIDS test in automatically included as part of ante-natal care. If you are not told your blood is being tested for HIV, you should ask. You have the right to refuse an HIV test. You don’t have to be tested for HIV if you don’t want to.

What kind of foolish advice is this? The woman is being told that somehow it is OK to refuse a test for whatever silly reason she may have. Do we have the right to refuse a TB test, a diabetes test, tetanus innoculation? Of course we do. But that is the foolish option.

The correct advice should be that the pregnant woman makes sure that HIV testing is carried out as her responsibility to the unborn baby. There has been too much focus on rights of women and girls in the AIDS campaign in this country. Women's rights is becoming cult based - the lesbian cult of women's rights. Women should break free.

I have HIV. My partner does not. We practice safe sex but we want to have a baby. What should we do? It is important to talk to your health worker/doctor on the best way for yourself, your partner and baby to remain healthy. In order to conceive you will need to stop practising safe sex.

If he/she does not know, you must tell your partner that you have HIV and discuss the possibility of your partner becoming infected once you stop practising safe sex. If your partner gets HIV under these circumstances, you cannot be charged with infecting him or her.

More foolish advice. So we are told that we may be HIV infected but not tell our partner. But the partner has to be told so that you can both have a baby. We have to stop safe sex. This applies to gay men too.

Why are we having safe sex? Because I am HIV positive and I do not want to tell my partner. I have made up another story to avoid breaking the news. So a partner has to risk HIV infection for fertilization to take place.

If the HIV partner is on ARV, it means that the HIV virus has been removed from the blood, lymph and sperm of that person. Danger has dropped. Ask the doctor.

There is more dishonesty in this advice than moral caring for a partner. But if the partner becomes HIV infected, the other person cannot be charged by the police. Oh how nice!! Just tell the cops you were making a baby.

I have HIV. Will I be treated differently to the other mothers in the labour ward? By law, people with HIV must be treated the same as people without HIV. The Department of Health recommends that women who do not know their HIV status be tested while in labour or shortly after child birth. Your permission must be obtained before a test is done.

There is limited explanation in this advice. Again the woman has the right to refuse an AIDS test. But she cannot be charged with infecting her baby if she refuses. What simple-minded advice to be giving out to the community. The lesbian advisors are going overboard with the rights of women.

The correct advice is that the pregnant mother must insist on an HIV test before giving birth. The infection with HIV can occur as the baby passes down the birth canal.

There was a drug Nivaripine that was given to the mother prior to birth to protect the baby. She probably has the right to refuse that too according to the lesbian activists. And she has the right to refuse a test and any drugs to protect her baby. And she cannot be charged by police. Cool advice.

What of the mother's responsibilities?