GLAD Testimony on Proposed Maine HIV-related Legislation
GLAD submitted testimony April 7, 2011 on two bills before the Main legislature concerning proposed changes to HIV-related law concerning privacy and mother-to-child transmission.
Excerpt from testimony on LD 596
GLAD opposes LD 596 which would eliminate all medical privacy protections in Maine law for HIV status (5 MRSA § 19203-D, ¶¶ A-B). The eradication of specific prohibitions on the disclosure of a patient’s HIV status without the patient’s specific consent will harm individuals and undermine critical public health goals to increase testing and ensure that individuals with HIV seek medical treatment. As the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States concluded in July 2010: “The stigma associated with HIV remains extremely high and fear of discrimination causes some Americans to avoid learning their HIV status, disclosing their HIV status, or accessing medical care.” Read the full testimony
Excerpt from testimony on LD 702
GLAD shares the goal of implementing the best public health strategies to eliminate Mother to Child Transmission (MTCT) of HIV. As explained below, the gold standard public health strategy to reduce MTCT is to ensure that every pregnant woman is offered an HIV test and, if positive, receives medication that will protect her health and reduce the risk of MTCT to less than two percent. For this reason, GLAD supports the provision in this bill requiring physicians to offer HIV testing to all pregnant women. GLAD believes, however, that this provision does not go far enough and must include a requirement that physicians explain to pregnant women the benefits of HIV testing during pregnancy. Read the full testimony