When children choose you
Read the full story“The biggest difference between a planned and unplanned pregnancy was just being connected to the right supports. It takes a whole community to welcome a child.”
Welcome to a space for people living with HIV to learn more about our rights and choices related to starting a family.
There are many choices and options for people living with HIV and our families to assist in our choices related to family planning. HIV is only one factor in our decisions as people living with HIV about starting a family. With the right support, knowledge, and care, we can do this!
We can make the choices that we want related to our reproductive planning and rights!
We can do this also means we should learn as much as we can about our options, our rights, and other people living with HIV’s experiences. This will help us prepare for challenges that we may face, like a lack of accessibility to resources and support or even to fertility care in some cases.
This digital toolkit has been created by your community – by people living with HIV as a space where you can learn more about these options, rights, and experiences. The information is informed by The Canadian HIV Planning Guidelines. These guidelines were developed for healthcare providers, but they are a great tool that can help guide us in our reproductive planning and help us navigate the resources and supports necessary to address our diverse challenges and needs.
The good news is that as people living with HIV, we can, and we are, doing this!
Read the full story“The biggest difference between a planned and unplanned pregnancy was just being connected to the right supports. It takes a whole community to welcome a child.”
People living with HIV have advocated for the right to reproductive choice, be it intending to become pregnant, to adopt, to seek fertility treatment or to remain childless. We see you and the many different lived experiences there are among people living with HIV across Canada related to reproductive planning.
The tradition of learning through stories in the HIV community is powerful. Learn more from fellow community members across these lands through their journeys into reproductive health and choice. As a member of our community, no matter what your reproductive intentions are, we want you to know that you are not alone in this journey, we are in this together.
We see you, we support you, and we support your right to your reproductive choices regardless of your HIV+ status.
We see you, we support you, and we support your right to your reproductive choices regardless of your HIV+ status.
The reproductive rights of people living with HIV haven’t always been protected. Many people within our community have been told they weren’t allowed to conceive, adopt or use a surrogate or that is was wrong to take the risk of having an HIV-positive child; or that their kids could be taken away. But things are improving because this is our right.
As people living with HIV we know that we have every right to become parents, and have access to the tools and supports to do so, or to prevent unplanned pregnancies until we are ready to parent, or for our whole lives/so we can remain childless by choice!
Reproductive health counseling – including birth control options, parenting choices, strategies to reduce HIV transmission – based on up-to-date, accurate and values-neutral information.
A care team that approaches about this counseling from a non-judgmental approach and accounts for our sexual, gender, cultural, ethno-racial & religious diversity in beliefs and practices.
Counselling that also considers issues such as parenting-related HIV Stigma and discrimination, a harm reduction approach related to substance use realities for families, and considerations for families who choose not to parent
A clinical review of medications to ensure safety during conception and pregnancy
Access to cART during the preconception phase to reduce the risk of HIV transmission
Support for the conception option that is preferred by the person living with HIV (and their partner when relevant)
Access to fertility specialist who are informed about HIV when necessary
Full and satisfying parenting lives as PLHIV if we so choose
To make fully informed decisions about exercising our reproductive rights. This includes full explanations of all medical procedures & risks, to choose or refuse the treatment modalities, to refuse to participate in research w/o jeopardizing our treatment.
Privacy, confidentiality of medical records, to human respect & to choose who our significant others & co-parents are.
HIV is a manageable disease and as a person living with HIV, you can choose if and how you want to become a parent. With advances in medical science such as PrEP, PEP and U=U, people living with HIV who want to become parents have many options.