A long road
Read the full story“I am still looking for the right support in all of this. I would love to talk to women who have gone through this journey whose lives have followed a similar path as mine.”
Welcome to a space for clinicians to learn more than just the science of HIV and family planning.
There are many choices and options for people living with HIV related to reproductive planning. HIV is only one factor for people living with HIV about starting a family. With the right support, knowledge, and care, people living with HIV can become parents if they choose to! The reproductive rights of people living with HIV require access to your support from clinical and service providers.
Many people living with HIV are already parents and/or are aware of their reproductive goals. Some have never spoken with a provider about these goals. This is because there are still many barriers, challenges, and stigmatizing experiences for people living with HIV in pursuing their reproductive goals.
While people living with HIV can become parents there are many clinical support needed in the decision making process This digital toolkit has been created by people living with HIV as a space where you can learn more about these options, rights, and the experiences of people living with HIV in exercising these rights. The information is informed by The Canadian HIV Planning Guidelines. In addition to the resources on this website, providers are encouraged to visit www.hivpregnancyplanning.com to access clinical resources to improve the care and support you provide to people living with HIV related to their reproductive planning.
The right clinical support can make all the difference.
Read the full story“I am still looking for the right support in all of this. I would love to talk to women who have gone through this journey whose lives have followed a similar path as mine.”
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. As a provider, you need to centre our experiences as people living with HIV when providing reproductive planning support. At the centre of this, we, as people living with HIV, ask that you consider our needs, wants, desires, experiences and right to self-determination regarding parenthood.
The Canadian HIV Pregnancy Planning website for providers provides helpful resources, tools, documents for when you are counselling about reproductive planning. When engaging in these important conversations, the multitudes within the lives of people living with HIV must be considered. We each have histories and concerns about discussing these subjects with providers for fear of stigma and discrimination. We have histories of violence that intersect with our reproductive plans. We exist within religions & cultures that may bolster or erode our confidence in accessing this care and making reproductive decisions. While the messaging may have changes, we were led by media, community, other medical providers to believe that exercising our reproductive rights was wrong for many years.
The reproductive rights of people living with HIV haven’t always been protected. The reproductive rights of people living with HIV are increasingly being recognized and respected. You play a role in us exercising our rights.
The reproductive rights of people living with HIV haven’t always been protected. The reproductive rights of people living with HIV are increasingly being recognized and respected. You play a role in us exercising our rights.
While often thought of in the care and support of women living with HIV, the CHPPG team urges service providers to consider your role in helping all people living with HIV exercise their reproductive rights. One way to achieve this is by becoming a champion for the reproductive justice of people living with HIV. Being an HIV Reproductive Justice Champion means providing care that:
Take the first step in becoming an HIV Reproductive Justice Champion by reading the CHPPGs. Being familiar with these comprehensive clinical practice guidelines ensures that you can actively (once a year) discuss reproductive goals and rights with your patients/clients. The CHPPG Clinician website has a collection of further resources to help you become an HIV Reproductive Justice Champion. An HIV Reproductive Justice Champion plays a key role in us exercising our rights by recognizing the power that the healthcare system has over our reproductive goals, by considering how individuality, family, culture, religion, and many more factors influence our experiences related to reproductive rights and justice, and by acknowledging that the historical violence and injustices experienced by people living with HIV related to our reproductive rights has resulted in many of us inhabiting spaces of social marginalization and lack of access to social power and bodily autonomy. Please ask us what our goals are. Please don’t assume. Power is always at play.
HIV is a manageable disease and as an ally, it is important to know more about the options that are available to your friend or family member who is living with HIV. With advances in medical science such as PrEP, PEP and U=U, people living with HIV who want to become parents have many options.