Legal Barriers to Implementing Recommendations for Universal, Routine Prenatal HIV Testing

• Published in: The Journal of law, medicine & ethics Vol. 32; no. 1; pp. 137 - 147
• Main Authors: Wolf, Leslie E., Lo, Bernard, Gostin, Lawrence O.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 22.03.2004; SAGE Publications; Sage Publications, Inc; Cambridge University Press
• Subjects: AIDS Serodiagnosis - legislation & jurisprudence; Anti-HIV agents; Antiviral agents; Babies; Childbirth & labor; Confidentiality - legislation & jurisprudence; Consent; Constraints; Counseling; Diagnosis; Disclosure - legislation & jurisprudence; Disease control; Drug therapy; Ethics; Female; Government regulation; Gynecology; HIV; HIV infection in children; HIV Infections - diagnosis; HIV Infections - prevention & control; HIV testing; HIV tests; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Informed Consent - legislation & jurisprudence; Laws, regulations and rules; Mass Screening - legislation & jurisprudence; Mass Screening - organization & administration; Medical tests; Obstetrics; Pediatric HIV infections; Practice Guidelines as Topic - standards; Pregnancy; Pregnant women; Prenatal care; Prenatal Diagnosis; Prevention; Prophylaxis; Public health; State Government; State laws; United States; Womens health; United States; United States > US; Empirical Approach; Health Care and Public Health; Institute of Medicine; Legal Approach; Genetics and Reproduction

Administraation of antiretroviral therapy to women during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and to infants postnatally can dramatidy reduce mother-to- child HIV transmission (MTCT). However, pregnant women need to know that they are HIV-infected to take advantage of antiretroviral therapy, and many wom...