Statement Submitted to the NY State Assembly Health Committee Amending Article 27F's Provisions Guaranteeing Pre-test and Post-test Counseling and Written Evidence of Patient Consent, S. Rodriguez, Sisters Mobilized for AIDS Research and Treatment (2006)

At a New York State Assembly Health Committee hearing held  to consider proposed legislative changes, along with 2006 CDC guidelines, that would remove most pre-test and post-test counseling and written consent requirements for HIV testing, Susan Rodriguez testified as a woman of color living with HIV, a mother of a teenager with HIV, and the co-founder and president of SMART, an organization serving primarily women of color with, or affected by, HIV. Rodriguez opposed changes to counseling and written informed consent requirements, and took issue with the assertion in one proposed bill that HIV carries no more stigma than "other transmissible diseases."