ILLINOIS : AMA Backs Required Prenatal AIDS Tests

In a surprising turnaround on an explosive issue, the American Medical Assn., meeting in Chicago, 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 on 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.