Abortion service provider Planned Parenthood has sparked a new controversy following the release of a booklet where it advises HIV-positive youths that they have the right not to tell their sexual partners about their disease.
International Planned Parenthood Federation, of which Planned Parenthood Federation of America is an official affiliate, released a booklet called "Healthy, Happy and Hot," WND reported.
The booklet advices that "young people living with HIV have the right to decide if, when, and how to disclose their HIV status."
"Sharing your HIV status is called disclosure. Your decision about whether to disclose may change with different people and situations. You have the right to decide if, when, and how to disclose your HIV status," it says.
The booklet says laws that force HIV-positives to disclose their health status to their sexual partners violate rights.
"Some countries have laws that say people living with HIV must tell their sexual partner(s) about their status before having sex, even if they use condoms or only engage in sexual activity with a low risk of giving HIV to someone else. These laws violate the rights of people living with HIV by forcing them to disclose or face the possibility of criminal charges," it states.
It adds, "There are ... people who don't mind whether their partner(s) is HIV negative or positive," that it's your right to "experience sexual pleasure" and that "you've done nothing wrong."
There are about 1.2 million people with HIV in the U.S. in 2013, according to health authorities, and 20 percent of them are not aware of their condition.
Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) accounted for 68 percent of all new HIV infections in the U.S. in 2013.
A 2003 study published in the American Journal of Public Health showed that 13 percent of HIV-positive adults do not disclose their condition to their sexual partners.
Since 2013, at least 35 states have laws that criminalise exposing another person to HIV and in 29 states, it's a felony.
