Reproductive Rights

To research an example of human dignity violated in my lifetime I found an article titled "Dignity Denied: Violations of the Rights of HIV-Positive Women in Chilean Health Facilities" published in 2010.  The article focused on reproductive rights- more specifically, Chilean woman who were denied health care because they are HIV positive.  "Dignity Denied: Violations of the Rights of HIV Positive Women in Chilean Health Facilities" was published by the Center for Reproductive Rights who's mission is to "use the law to advance reproductive freedom a a fundamental human right that all governments are legally obligated to protect, respect, and fulfill."  The article itself focused on 27 woman and the stories of how their dignity was violated. 

For example, an HIV positive pregnant woman and her partner chose to have a child even though she was HIV positive because her viral load was undetectable and the risk of mother-to-child transmission was low.  Despite the low risks the pregnancy was soon complicated.  After experiencing an orange discharge she was denied care.  Shortly after she was finally admitted to the hospital with severe abdominal pains and hemorrhaging.  While she should have received prompt medical attention, the hospital staff focused on HIV negative patients, even patients who arrived after she did, leaving her ignored.  She then suffered a miscarriage.

Another HIV positive woman was forced, by a doctor, to become sterilized during a cesarean delivery.  The woman arrived at the hospital the night before her scheduled C-section and went into labor.  She was taken to the operating room and the doctor performed a procedure to sterilize her without her consent.  She was quoted saying, "The treated me like I was less than a person.  It was not my decision to end my fertility; they took it from me." 

These are just two of the personal stories in the article, but the article also explores  information about HIV, statistics, prevention methods, and more.  My reaction to this article was pretty shocking.  It amazes me that people are able to discriminate against other just because they have HIV (or any disease, illness, or disorder for that matter).  Just because someone has a particular disease, illness, or disorder does mean they are any less human.  What bothered me even more though was the fact that they were discriminated by health care professionals.  Not only because they people taking care of them were, in fact, professionals, but because being a doctor is a service profession.  Doctors are there to help people, they are not there to judge and they cannot chose who receives medical attention.  In the first example, doctors decided that HIV negative women deserved more medical attention than HIV positive women.  The HIV positive women were discriminated against-their dignity was taken away.  In the second example, the women was sterilized without her consent.  A doctor decided that because she was HIV positive she no long deserved to reproduce- that doctor took her dignity.

This article spoke a lot about society and how society views individuals with HIV (or any other disease, illness, or disorder).  I think it goes to show that while we say everyone is created equal and deserves equal rights, we still have a long way to go to make that statement true.  Some people may be thinking, "Oh, that would never happen in the United States."  I realize that the report focused on Chilean woman, but we are all one human race.  I say that in a lot of my blog; but it is because I never thought about it like that until we started talking about universal human dignity in class and until I started reading about it in Kateb's article, Catholic Social Teachings, and other Rawl's article. Regardless, who is to say someone would not be denied health care because then are HIV positive in the United States and, more importantly, it should not be happening anywhere.