Increased research on HIV[*] has led to the discovery of ways of coping with it and many individuals who follow recommended lifestyles for people living with HIV have enjoyed active lives for a significant number of years after they found out that they were HIV-positive. The introduction of Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT) programs has also created opportunities for HIV-positive women to give birth to children without transmitting the virus to them.
Yet, we are faced with instances of HIV-positive women being seduced with cash in order to give up their right to motherhood as has been seen in Kakamega, where a US-based NGO – Project Prevention – is giving HIV-positive women $40 to have an Intra-Uterine Device (IUD) inserted[†]. This coercion to give up a woman’s right to parenthood through long-term contraception with little attention given to dissemination of information is an obvious violation of women’s right to self-determination based on her HIV status, which should not be a reason for any such form of discrimination. However, such a scenario also poses a dilemma because it creates tension between a child’s right to a decent life (since most of those who contract the virus e.g. through breastfeeding, do not live to see their 5th birthday and/or may lose their parents to the same virus) and women’s sexual and reproductive rights (the right to choose whether to have children). Whose rights (should) override the other and who decides this?
As we consider this dilemma/ question, what should remain clear is that women’s vulnerability due to poverty should not be used as a means to violate their sexual and reproductive rights. Both poverty and sexual and reproductive rights should be addressed in ways that first equip women with tools that enable them to make informed and independent choices free from coercion, such as through education/awareness-raising, provision of sufficient information and an overall enabling environment. Seducing HIV-positive women with cash incentives is simply an unacceptable violation of their sexual and reproductive rights, as it capitalizes on their vulnerability in the face of poverty.
[*] Human Immunodeficiency Virus
[†] Source: http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=92696 (12th May 2011)
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