NJ To Force HIV Testing?

New Jersey Senate President Richard Codey introduced legislation on Thursday for New Jersey to be the first state to require both pregnant women and newborns to be tested for HIV.

The bill would make all pregnant women get tested twice; once early in their pregnancy and a second time in the third trimester. Newborns would be tested as well.

While I’m all for offering pregnant women an HIV test (which is the current law in NJ), I’m also for women making their own medical decisions about their pregnancy; an actual mandate interferes with that right, as well as opens the doors to even more policies that could invade those rights further. I don’t like it. And I never will.

Soon they'll be testing for proper vitamin use. And whether pregnant women die their hair.

This also poses unintended consequences, such as potentially scaring off women in seeking medical treatment for fear of being forced to test. And what if they are positive? Then what?