Letter to the Chicago Tribune on the Perinatal HIV Prevention Act

Dear Editor:

Dennis Byrne says state legislation requiring healthcare practitioners to provide HIV counseling and offer HIV testing to pregnant women is tantamount to murder ("Testing mothers for HIV," April 28, 2003). Nothing could be further from the truth.

Senate Bill 263, "the Perinatal HIV Prevention Act," sponsored by Senators Barack Obama (D-Chicago) and Chris Lauzen (R-Aurora) and Representatives Larry McKeon (D-Chicago) and Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago), among others, mandates lifesaving HIV counseling and testing services for pregnant women - a proven strategy to stop mother-to-child HIV transmission and to curb HIV/AIDS among child-bearing women.

Studies show that almost without exception, pregnant women who are counseled about the benefits of HIV testing for themselves and their newborns choose to get tested in order to protect the health of their babies. Yet nothing currently requires providers to talk to their pregnant patients about HIV infection or the value of HIV testing. SB 263 changes that. By mandating counseling for all pregnant women and urging HIV testing, the law will reach the fewer than 1% of pregnant women who are HIV-positive and do not know it. Universal counseling will also ensure that the remaining 99% of pregnant women who currently are HIV-negative, and who would receive no information about HIV infection and prevention with mandatory testing, learn about strategies to remain uninfected. HIV counseling and prevention education will benefit women, their partners, and future children and must not be abandoned.

Recognizing that true partnerships between medical professionals and patients are needed to promote optimal prenatal, maternal, and newborn health, virtually all medical and public health organizations oppose mandatory HIV testing and support efforts to make HIV counseling and testing for pregnant women more routine. Senate Bill 263 achieves these goals. It makes HIV counseling and the offer of testing a routine part of care throughout a woman's pregnancy and after delivery. More than a compromise, the legislation represents strong public health policy for women and newborns in Illinois. Members of the Illinois House of Representative should swiftly approve it.

Sincerely,

Patricia Garcia, MD, MPH
Executive Director, Pediatric AIDS Chicago Prevention Initiative And Director, Northwestern Perinatal HIV Program

Steven Lelyveld, MD, FAAP
President, Illinois Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics

Susan Gevirtz
President, Pediatric AIDS Chicago

Mark Ishaug
Executive Director, AIDS Foundation of Chicago

Ann Hilton Fisher
Executive Director, AIDS Legal Council of Chicago

Heather Sawyer
Staff Attorney, Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund

Senate Bill 263 Factsheet