fective. Along those lines, if only one child in a million can be saved from contracting AIDS because of a mother who wouldn’t normally have been tested was forced to, it seems as if it was all still worth it. Transmission of HIV from a mother to her infant is the leading cause of HIV infection in children. Prenatal testing offers a better opportunity to prevent the spread of HIV infection from mother to child than screening performed after the baby is born. This is because babies born to HIV- positive mothers who are treated prenatally and during delivery have an estimated 8 % chance of contracting the virus. A baby treated after delivery may benefit from the drug, but will likely remain infected. Although the positives of mandatory testing appear quite evident in this journal, the benefits of mandatory HIV testing must be substantial and must be continually demonstrated before such a policy is implemented. The consequences must be considered and studied at great length in order to determine whether what I see as a good idea really is. After all, we are making a decision on behalf of an unborn child, a decision that could profoundly affect their entire life. ...
