AEGiS-APPJ: An Ethical Framework for Assessing Policies to Screen for Antibodies to HIV

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1987. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

An Ethical Framework for Assessing Policies to Screen for Antibodies to HIV

AIDS & Public Policy Journal 2, no. 1 (Winter 1987): 28-31
James F. Childress

When commentators argue that the "AIDS virus has no civil rights," their language often suggests that the moral imperative to control AIDS cancels all other moral imperatives and suspends our moral universe. Of course, they rarely follow their rhetoric to the conclusion of compulsory universal screening followed by mass quarantine or even mass slaughter. Even so, their position rarely takes other significant moral principles and rules with sufficient seriousness. I want to examine some of those principles and rules and sketch what they imply for public policies to control this infectious disease. This argument hinges on the best available medical information, particularly evidence indicating that the spread of AIDS usually involves consensual, voluntary, intimate contact, whether sexual activity or sharing intravenous drug needles and syringes, rather than casual contact.
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