According to an essay written by Evelynn Hammonds the issues of African American women living with the HIV virus or AIDS is a topic that has been skirted in the media, and when it has been addressed head on, a skewed picture is painted of this group of women. The plight of these women who find themselves pregnant is often even more bleak.
African American disproportionately are infected with HIV and yet little attention is be paid to this portion of the community in this epidemic. These women are portrayed as "passive victims in abusive relationships with men who are often drug abusers." These women have been categorized as carriers and reckless. According to 1996 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 37% of African-American women who are infected with the virus acquired the disease through heterosexual transmission ( women.html ).
When a pregnancy is added into the mix, the criticism increases while the sympathy decreases. According to Hammonds "the most demeaning attack is made on African American women who, though HIV positive, become pregnant and choose to continue their pregnancies rather than have an abortion."
The hardships of these pregnant women are great and are compounded by hostility by many people including some health care workers that are supposed to be coming to their aid and that of their children. The criticism and scorn is inflamed by such commentary as that of Jane Gross who is also quoted in Hammonds's essay as reporting
"...Women explain that they want to have another child to leave something behind in the face of death, that they view a fifty-fifty chance of having a healthy baby acceptable odds."
This type of circumstance is not as prevalent as Gross would lead us to believe. African American women often do not know they are infected with HIV until later in the diseases's progression. Certain health issues for women often delay this diagnosis until later than that of men. In an article by Elizabeth Ramos an example is cited where a women is falsely diagnosed with bronchitis rather than the correct diagnosis of HIV. This is not uncommon especially for women. Also according to counselors it is often later in the pregnancy past the feasible point of abortion that the pregnancy is discovered. This would be contradictory to Gross's assertion.
Hammonds, Evelynn. 1995. "Missing Persons: African American Women, AIDS, and the History of Disease." In Kesselman et al. Women: Images and Realities: A Multicultural Anthology. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. pp. 274-278.
Nixon, Bebe. 1991. "Elizabeth Ramos." In Kesselman et al. Women: Images and Realities: A Multicultural Anthology. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. pp. 272-274.