Pregnancy Planning and HIV

There are lots of questions that come up when someone is newly diagnosed with HIV. One of those questions can be, “Can I have a healthy baby?” Many positive women want to have children, and for most women, the answer is yes. HIV itself is no reason to put parenting dreams away, but health care providers across the country may not know that. Women can face stigma and reluctance from care providers when the topic of pregnancy is broached, but new national guidelines to provide reproductive care to positive men and women should make some changes.

PWN is part of a national committee working to develop HIV pregnancy planning guidelines that can be used across Canada. While there are some great facilities in spots across the country (BC’s Oak Tree Clinic is one of them), a set of clear national guidelines would help so that women receive supportive, informed care no matter where they live. Guidelines that can be used to provide services to positive people across the country will help to educate care providers and hopefully work to dispel some of the stigma that positive women and couples experience with pregnancy.

Many members of PWN are moms, and discussions about pregnancy and raising kids often arise in the drop-in. An often asked question is about transmission during pregnancy. If HIV is treated during pregnancy, the transmission rate from mother to baby is less than 2%. Another concern is whether a woman will live to see her children grow up. With advances in treatments and evidence of PHAs living longer and longer, we have lots of reasons to be optimistic (no parent, regardless of HIV status, has a crystal ball to guarantee they’ll live to see their kids grow up).

These national guidelines will be aimed at positive people in various family units. Magnetic couples will be able to get information about getting pregnant safely when the woman is positive and the man isn’t, and vice versa. What if both partners are positive? What if a single or lesbian woman wants to get pregnant?  Care providers and PHAs deserve clear information about options. 

I’ll keep you up to date as things progress. The committee will be meeting at the CAHR conference later this month, and I’ll let you know what happens there. In the meantime, if you want information on pregnancy or pregnancy planning, the folks at Oak Tree would love to hear from you.

- Janet

This was posted on Friday, April 3rd, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under Education & Resources, HIV Prevention, HIV Treatment . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.

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  chessa November 17, 2009 at 8:04 am

  My father in-law made a joke that the baby better be a boy or not to bother telling him. I was so hurt! How do you even respond to comments like this?

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  positivewomen November 19, 2009 at 11:49 am

  I think that each baby that arrives is unique and wonderful, regardless of its sex. That’s what matters.

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