valerie, i still think we are talking about the same thing - and women who
are not HIV postiive have the same threat hanging over them. your child is
"still" nursing? you can lose custody. your child is sleeping in your bed to
nurse? you can lose custody. same story, there are cases like the tyson case
that involve other situations. and yes, one case can certainly have a ripple
effect. i think there must even now be women hearing "you can't nurse your
baby (HIV positive mother), it's ILLEGAL."

but whether the threat of force was made implicitly or explicitly, it is
equally bad. it is not "worse" for an HIV postiive mother to be forced by law
to not breastfeed than it is for a woman to be "discouraged" by medical
misinformation to not breastfeed. circumstances do not make one example worse
than another, and magda's point that allowing HIV positive women to be
treated in this way in a formal setting (medical studies, cases of law) will
cause things to be worse for all women - its a point well taken.

carol brussel IBCLC

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