TheFederalist.com:
In a recent interview with Matt Lauer, actor Charlie Sheen disclosed that he is HIV-positive and has been aware of his HIV status for approximately four years. Since Sheen has a well-known sexual legacy and claims to have had sex with 5,000 women, Matt Lauer and the rest of humanity were understandably concerned that Sheen may have infected some of his many partners with HIV over the years.
Lauer asked Sheen pointedly, “Have you, since the time of your diagnosis, told every one of your sexual partners, before you had a sexual encounter, that you were HIV positive?” Sheen said, “Yes, I have.” Lauer: “No exception?” Sheen: “No exception.”
In this exchange, both Lauer and Sheen seem to assume it would be the right thing to inform a potential sexual partner that you are HIV-positive before engaging in sexual activity with him or her. Even if Sheen is not telling the whole truth, he seems to know he should at least publicly insist that he, without exception, told his sexual partners that he was HIV-positive before engaging in sexual activity with them.
Would it surprise you to know that Planned Parenthood disagrees? International Planned Parenthood Federation, of which Planned Parenthood Federation of America is an official affiliate, maintains it is a person’s “human right” not to tell their sexual partners they are HIV positive if they don’t want to.
Go Ahead, Infect People
It’s all laid out in International Planned Parenthood Federation’s booklet for HIV-positive youth entitled “Healthy, Happy and Hot.” It says, “Young people living with HIV have the right to decide if, when, and how to disclose their HIV status.” It continues: “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.”
In other words, Planned Parenthood thinks it’s your human right to risk exposing other people to a potentially deadly disease without telling them. Most of the states in the union disagree with Planned Parenthood. Lauer went on to ask Sheen, “What about criminal charges? In 35 states if you or someone who is HIV positive…have sex with someone else without divulging it, you can be charged with a crime.” Sheen said he understands.
But fortunately for him, International Planned Parenthood Federation is working to change that. “Healthy, Happy and Hot” explains, “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.”
The pamphlet then gives tips to protect oneself from criminalization, and does say that the best way to protect yourself (which is apparently more important than protecting your partner) is to tell your partner that you are infected before you have sex. This section ends with the statement, “Get involved in advocacy to change laws that violate your rights.” It appears that, according to Planned Parenthood, Sheen’s right to have sex trumps his partners’ right to live. That should give him some peace of mind.
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