ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 28, 1996 TAG: 9606280049
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHICAGO
SOURCE: Associated Press
In a surprising turnaround on an explosive issue, the American Medical Association on Thursday endorsed mandatory testing of all pregnant women and newborns for the AIDS virus.
The AMA had long favored voluntary testing because there was little doctors could do to treat a pregnant woman infected with HIV. That changed with the realization that the drug AZT can dramatically reduce a woman's risk of passing the virus to the fetus.
The issue has remained an explosive one, however, with AIDS activists, civil libertarians and some mothers warning such tests would invade women's privacy and lead to job discrimination.
The extraordinarily close 185-181 vote by the AMA's policy-making House of Delegates reflected the fear among many doctors that making the test mandatory also would discourage women most at risk of AIDS from seeking prenatal care.
Some members of the AMA dismissed those concerns.
``We have learned enough about the disease to know that the differences in those who are treated vs. those who are not treated cuts by two-thirds the risk to the unborn child,'' said Dr. Robert E. McAfee, an AMA trustee and former president.
AMA policy carries no legal weight, and the group did not specify whether action should be taken at the state or federal level.
LENGTH: Short : 35 linesby CNB