If a woman is HIV positive or has Aids and she is aware of it?

Should she be allowed to have children and give birth? Why or why not?

Should she be forced to have her ovaries removed?

With a 25% chance of infecting the infant I don't think she should have a child naturally but forcibly taking her ovaries would be going way too far. Suppose a woman is unaware she is HIV positive and finds after out she is pregnant. Should she be forced to abort because of that 25% chance?

I have never heard of an HIV positive woman intentionally becoming pregnant, have you? All expectant mothers want one thing only, to have a healthy baby. I can't imagine a woman willingly taking this chance. Did it ever occur to you that she could use a surrogate and her own eggs? The threat of passing HIV is through the blood and bodily fluids, not the egg.

With the drugs now available, it is possible for an HIV positive person to live a long life. Some actually get to the point of showing no sign of having been infected. There's no reason to assume the mother wouldn't be around to raise the child as long as she follows her treatment.

Look at Magic Johnson. He married and had children with his wife after being diagnosed. Everyone was outraged at the time his wife Cookie first became pregnant but they have 2 healthy children now. Children whose father is alive and well.

I'm curious what made you pose this question. Is there a case in the news I missed?

'Allowed' ?

No-one can police who gives birth. I personally don't think bible thumping religious fanatics should be allowed to reproduce because of what they infect their babies with but hey .....

Babies of HIV+ mothers can be born HIV negative

I am HIV+ and if I wanted to have children I would go ahead and have them - you can have your sperm treated to avoid transmission


EDIT: people get hysterical about HIV because of the way they presume it was caught but it really is an infectious disease like any other and if you remove the stigma and fixation with the sexual transmission - you can remove the hysteria


EDIT: YOUR question surprises me because you are gay. You are actually advocating that people with certain diseases should have bits of their reproductive organs cut out?
Have you just popped in from the Middle Ages? There are THOUSANDS of what are called *Magnetic Couples* ie one Positive and One Negative partner and they can safely have children.

This question and some of the answers show how ignorant otherwise intelligent posters are on the issues surrounding HIV in the 21st Century.

EDIT: you're not gay? Someone with a name very similar to yours asked question re his love life (gay) earlier. There seems to be a bunch of GWS people with the same first name

In all of the states I'm familiar with the law in, the willful transmission of HIV is a considered a type of assault, and a felony.

I don't know of any exceptions for pregnant women.

EDIT: "Should she be forced to have her ovaries removed?" All right, at this point we've crossed the line from 'interesting question' to 'obvious misogynist trolling.'

Yes, isn't there good enough medicine now that there's an extremely low chance of it being passed to the baby? I supose there is a tiny chance though...but I guess that's just one of the risks of life. It would be awful to be one of those people, I'd be so cross with my mother.

About her being around in the future, she should be around long enough to be there for the child, unless she's in the advanced stages of AIDS.

But then, when would it end? People with congenital defects breed, etc so it would be hard and horrible to police.

Harriet

Oh wow that's a good question! Cesarean births still leave the baby with the disease doesn't it? I know it doesn't for Chlamydia but not sure about those two...

If so then my answer would be no. Well, she should be allowed but she should be responsible enough to Not have them.

If there were ways around it like Trevor said and she wanted a child I think she should have one.

Get with the program. Women can safely give birth to children if they are HIV positive. Why should they be penalized. Instead do something about he men who are spreading HIV by having unprotected sex when they are quite aware they are infected.

In a sense, I really think she shouldn't be allowed to.....she's giving the child she would have Aids automatically. Unfortunately there's not a law that says women can't have children just because they have aids.

morally- no
legally- the govt. cannot regulate who can and cannot have children (unfortunately)

Yes there are ways to prevent the transmission of HIV to the baby..and like someone else said you can't control who can and can't get pregnant.