AIDS AND WOMEN

By Sky Gilbert

Pink Panther 18 Nov. 1999

Women can get AIDS too, right? In fact, women with AIDS have been ignored, right? So AIDS organizations are starting to respond to the needs of women with HIV, right?

Wrong.

Women all over Canada are having very real, frightening problems concerning AIDS and human rights. And Canadian AIDS organizations couldn't give a flying fuck.

Take the case of Madame X.

Madame X is a Montreal woman who is being persecuted by the police and the government through the Youth Protection agencies in her city. (I cannot reveal her real name because she is terrified of further trouble.) Madame X is 38 years old, and looked 28 until, as she says, she "put on a few wrinkles in the last six months because of the horrible stress and crying." She is HIV-positive. Her sister ratted to the authorities when she was giving birth to her first child (who is now 8). She was hassled about breast-feeding her children -- she had to agree to allow a government nurse to check on her child every two months. The child developed normally, but every cold and slight loss of weight brought a hysterical response from the nurse. Her second child was born healthy and is now 4. But this hasn't stopped the persecution. Though her children are not sick, and Madame X is a good mother, the Youth Protection agency in Montreal has now taken her to court. Why? Because she refuses to feed her children the new Protease Inhibitor/AZT "cocktails."

Madame X doesn't believe that HIV is the cause of AIDS. She has no reason to -- she has been healthy since her diagnosis. Like many people who are diagnosed HIV-positive, she has experienced absolutely no AIDS symptoms, but plenty of hate and ignorance has been directed her way instead. She has seen other children take the new "wonder" drugs and die. She says -- please pardon her English -- "I thought it was the treatment that killed."

Madame X is an informed HIV-positive woman who believes in homeopathic remedies, and has the audacity to dare to take an active part in her own and her children's medical care. Her views may not be your own. But does that mean she should lose her family?

Last month Madame X's two children were taken away and put into foster care, where the "cocktail" will be forcefully administered until her case comes to trial.

Madame X is not alone. The Globe and Mail recently reported that a 29-year-old mother in Alberta has gone into hiding with her two infant sons to protect them from what she sees as lethal HIV treatments. The Globe also mentioned nine legal cases around the world where parents are fighting the state over HIV drug therapies.

I have nothing against HIV-positive patients who choose to go on heavy-duty drug therapy. I am pro-choice. Some HIV-positive people that are near death experience miracle cures. But I do have something against government agencies forcefully administering controversial, sometimes dangerous drug treatments to children. Why is it that courts will carefully consider the beliefs of Christian Scientists in the issue of child health, but dismiss the beliefs of an HIV-positive mother?

Two reasons. First: AIDS is not a disease as much as it is a social stigma. The politics of fear take over and suddenly anyone who is HIV-positive is not a person. Second: there's lots of money wrapped up in AIDS treatment. AIDS organizations such as Toronto's Community AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE) and the International AIDS Society receive pharmaceutical funding (either directly or indirectly). They know that if they dare challenge prevailing wisdom, they will lose this support.

The only three Canadian AIDS organizations brave enough to defend Madame X are HEAL Toronto, the International Coalition for Medical Justice and the Alberta Reappraising AIDS Society.

In the mad rush toward pharmaceutical profits, AIDS organizations and doctors refuse to consider that perhaps the new drugs aren't good for everyone, especially those diagnosed with HIV who have never been sick.

These drugs are scary. AZT may have killed thousands already. As Dr. Grant Hill, Canada's official opposition Health Critic, says, "AZT is not a cure for AIDS, and there are significant issues around its use in children." When will we stop the fear and the greed and learn to consider these issues rationally?

The Toronto AIDS organizations I contacted were not concerned about the issue of Madame X or the plight of her children. CATIE told me this is "a child custody issue, not a treatment issue." The AIDS Committee of Toronto "has no official policy." The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network stated: "It's very difficult to take a position on this issue." The Theresa Group said: "That's not an issue we would get into." Voices of Positive Women never returned my call.

Any HIV-positive Canadian woman who dares to think independently had better prepare for her family to be ripped apart. In Canada, basic human rights and the rights of HIV-positive women are very different. And AIDS service organizations in our country just don't care.