Voluntary Testing for Pregnant Women
During the past decade, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has become a leading cause of mortality among women. This population is now accounting for the most rapid increase in cases of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in recent years. As the numbers of cases of HIV infection have increased among women, particularly of childbearing age, increasing numbers of children have become infected as well. "Various studies conducted to date indicate that between 1/4 and 1/3 of infants born worldwide to women infected with HIV have become infected with the virus themselves" (HIV InSite, 1997). This is due to the route of transmission known as vertical transmission, from mother to infant.
…show more content…
These proposals suggest that every woman seeking prenatal care—whether it be in a gynecologist's office, a health clinic, the hospital, etc.—should be tested for HIV. This testing should be done whether the woman agrees or not, and if she refuses, prenatal care would be withheld. The rationale behind such a proposal is that if HIV testing is mandated, all pregnant women will have to be tested in order to receive prenatal care. Those who are HIV positive would be treated with drugs that will decrease the likelihood of vertical transmission. Thus, through mandatory testing, the instances of vertical transmission would decrease.
Since mandatory testing of pregnant women infringes on the woman's liberty and her right of privacy, the issue, is whether or not such a program is ethically justifiable, despite these infringements. In order to examine mandatory testing of pregnant women as a potentially effective way to reduce vertical transmission, I plan to analyze this proposal using the five criteria Childress proposes in his article, "Mandatory HIV Screening and Testing," criteria that, he explains, must be met in order to justify infringement of a person's rights when conducting mandatory testing. These five criteria are effectiveness, proportionality, necessity, least infringement, and explanation and justification to the patient. (Childress, 53) The first three must be met in order to justify infringement at all. The last two that
In order to reduce the number of abortions, the government should pass laws which restrict individuals from pregnancies when they are not ready otherwise stringent consequences and punishments are faced by the aborted women. The problem with this move is that it is difficult for the government to monitor pregnancies since some women may undertake the abortion privately especially via private clinics and purchasing abortion pills and partake the abortion at home as opposed to moving to private hospitals (Coleman, 2007).
The HAHCA board members refuse to honor Citizen Ralph Timberlake’s Katzenjammer supplicants for permission to attend the HAHCA board subcommittee meetings. Far too long, Citizen Timberlake has sought a gratis copy of the legal authorities that authorizes the HAHCA board to encumber, any person attempts to attend the HAHCA subcommittee meetings, Alabama Citizen Timberlake’s attempts has been an exercise in futile, or to no avail. Given that the HAHCA is a governmental entity, the HAHCA board members are illegitimately denying Citizen Timberlake’s rogation to attend the HAHCA’s subcommittee meetings. Accordingly, the HAHCA board members are anathema to the Sunshine Open Meeting Laws; consequently, the HAHCA board members unlawfully renounce Citizen Timberlake’s entreaties to attend the board subcommittee meetings are revolting. Secretary Merrill, the HAHCA board members are committing misfeasance; HAHCA board members are flagrant violating Alabama Citizen Timberlake rights, their defilement tantamount to the action of a Mephistophelian. Inconsiderately, the HAHCA board members are marginalizing Citizen Ralph Timberlake and his beseeches to
Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano are both victims of captivity and share their stories through detailed personal experiences in their narratives on captivity. Rowlandson was an American settler that faced the hardship of being captured during a period where tension was high between Native Americans and the American settlers. Equiano shares a similar story growing up in Guinea west of modern day Nigeria, a major slave trade port in Africa where Nigerians were kidnapped and sold into slavery. Comparing the historical context that led to the captures of both Rowlandson and Equiano, to their depictions in their narratives are important because they are the events that took place in society that sparked the narratives of captivity written by
There are many issues to consider in pregnancy discrimination. The well-being of the child, the well-being of the mother, employer/employee relations, as well as gender issues. There are however several State and Federal laws that protect people against pregnancy discrimination. Two of the Federal laws are the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Jeszcze Polska nie zginela, or Poland has not perished yet, this is the first line of the Polish national anthem. As you read you will learn why Poland is the most interesting country in Europe. first you will read about Poland’s intense history and its involvement in both world wars. Second I will tell you how the strong Polish economy has stayed strong throughout Poland's history. Lastly I will show you the lushes flat land of Poland to the beautiful mountains.
Many medical advances are being made today in the area of genetics. One of the most talked about is prenatal genetic testing. The purpose of prenatal genetic testing is to obtain information on a baby's health before they are born. This new technology will definitely improve the quality of human life. Diseases will be diminished and through new advances some diseases might even be eliminated. Children will be at less risk to have major health problems in their lives adding positively to their life experience. Prenatal genetic testing will also affects society as a whole.
There are many health problems that we face globally and each of them are important for us to be aware of and to take precautions and measures to prevent and treat such diseases that affect our global population. HIV/AIDS is a disease that is spread through direct contact with body fluids from a person who is infected with the virus, these fluids include blood, semen, rectal fluid, vaginal fluids and breast milk. There are an approximate 35 million people living with the disease globally as of 2015 and about 1 million of those people are children under the age of 15 (Aids.gov, 2016). There are approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. living with the disease and of those individuals many became infected with HIV by needle or syringe sharing,
Our newly elected president reinstated “Global Gag Rule”, which forbids giving federal funding to any foreign organization that performs abortions or, in many cases, that even mentions them as an option to women. These types of restrictive abortion laws make it more difficult and costly for the modern women to obtain an abortion. The laws pose the idea that an increase in the cost of an abortion should in return cause the number of abortions to decrease. Yet, these antiabortion laws do not have a significant positive effect on unintended birth rates. According to Doctor Nancy Krieger in the peer reviewed American Journal of Public Health, US infant death rates declined most quickly in 1970 to 1973. In the 1960s, an average of more than 200 women every year died as a result of botched illegal abortions. In addition to those who died in the course of illegal abortions, many thousands more suffered serious illness or injury. Due to the humiliation associated with having an illegal abortion, many women who suffered complications were reluctant to visit a doctor for treatment. It is evident that these antiabortion laws to not affect the modern woman positively. Instead of women going out and getting an abortion that could ruin their bodies for the rest of their lives, an alternate solution the government could make could be to make
If a woman is pregnant and she has an untreated STD such as hepatitis B, herpes, and syphilis, it could also potentially spread to the fetus, potentially leading to premature birth, stillbirth, and birth defects. Because Planned Parenthood is so affordable, many people depend on it as a reproductive health clinic. In fact, about one half of the organization’s patient’s use doctors at Planned Parenthood as their primary physicians, because they would be unable to afford anything else.
According to the CDC, about 18 % of those infected with HIV in the United States are unaware of their infection. An estimate of 1,000 young people ages 13 to 24 are newly infected with HIV each month. HIV is transmitted through bodily fluids such as semen, blood, breast milk, and vaginal fluids. These fluids can come in contact between people in a variety of ways, including having unprotected sex (oral, vaginal, or anal); HIV can also be passed from mother to child during childbirth. Mother to child transmission is now rare in the US and other developed countries because pregnant women who are HIV-positive are normally given medications to prevent the fetus from getting infected. However, it is possible for an HIV-infected mother to
Over the past years, drugs have been taking over more lives than we could have imagined. It seems that drugs have become more “popular”, even though they have been around us our whole lives. Kids starting at age 11 are now doing drugs, which is pretty upsetting knowing your little brother could be doing drugs without you even knowing. A more upsetting topic is babies being born addicted to drugs. A study has shown in 2004 seven babies in every 1000 were born addicted to drugs, by 2013 27 in every 1000 babies have been born addicted (Staufenberg, J. (2015, September 7). Huge increase in babies born addicted to drugs in US. Retrieved October 1, 2015.). I know it’s hard, thinking how such precious little humans can be born suffering from withdrawal. Poor babies have to suffer due to their mother’s mistake, ever wonder how baby withdrawal can stop? A topic that has a lot of controversy around it is, should all pregnant women be drug tested? My opinion before I survey 100 people is, I believe they should be drug tested in order to protect the baby. In fact Tennessee has made a law to arrest mother who give birth to drug addicted babies. The legislation gives moms of babies who are born dependent on drugs two choices: Face a misdemeanor charge or go to drug court where they will be put through an 18-month treatment program. (Tenn. Moms Can Now Be Arrested for 'drug Babies ' | HLNtv.com." HLNtv.com. 1 May 2014. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.) The effects of babies born to drugs could be
Many people are unaware of their health status further increasing transmission of disease in young adult African American(AA) women age 18-24. Human Immunodeficiency Viruses (HIV) infects and also destroy blood cells (i.e. lymphocytes) that the body need to fight off infection (Mays 2011). African American women HIV positive, age 18-24 the magnitude of issue of the health disparity in this particular population will be addressed along with the many factors of social and health determinants. The health concern is towards the increase of transmission among young AA mothers and their children who are the health outcomes in many ways than one. The many social and health determinants that affect the women today are on going cycles that have yet to be broken. African American women make 64% of new infection cases for HIV. African american obtain a vulnerability unlike other minorities. The health population’s culture and stigma has played an important role in the community. The concern for AA women is the increase of new cases and most importantly the spread of the disease to these women’s children. The mortality rate of AA women with HIV is 47.1% as of 2012. (Siddiqi 2015)
Child is a gift from God. Every parent hopes for a healthy child. However, abnormalities in the fetus growth becoming common nowadays. These may be due to physical, radiation and chemical factors. These factors will cause deformities such as genetic mutation which causes mental retardation, abnormal body buildup and other conditions which bring a lot of troubles in the future to the child themselves and their parents. Modern technologies and innovations in the medical field had developed a method to detect the abnormality before delivery and prevent this future tragedy to happen. This method is known as prenatal screening. There are several advantages and disadvantages of prenatal screening.
The HIV and AIDS pandemic remains one the most serious development crises in the world (WHO, 2006). Women and children bear a disproportionate share of the burden, and in many settings continue to experience high rates of new HIV infections and of HIV-related illness and death. In 2005 alone, an estimated 540 000 children were newly infected with HIV, with about
Since the beginning of the epidemic, AIDS has killed more than 30 million people worldwide, including more than 500,000 Americans. AIDS has replaced malaria and tuberculosis as the world's deadliest infectious disease among adults and is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. Over 13 million children have been orphaned by the epidemic. A person who is HIV-infected carries the virus in certain body fluids, including blood, semen, vaginal secretions, and breast milk. The virus can be transmitted only if such HIV-infected fluids enter the bloodstream of another person. This kind of direct entry can occur (1) through the linings of the vagina, rectum, mouth, and the opening at the tip of the penis; (2) through intravenous injection with a syringe; or (3) through a break in the skin, such as a cut or sore. Usually, HIV is transmitted through: