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Kathryn A. Phillips, PhD; Thomas Bleecker, PhD
University of California, San Francisco

Kathleen R. Morrison, MPH
University of California, Los Angeles

Seema S. Sonnad, MS
University of Michigan Ann Arbor

JAMA. 1996;276(4):283-284.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all pregnant women and women of childbearing age be counseled and encouraged to be voluntarily tested for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV),¹ and California legally requires physicians to offer voluntary testing to all pregnant women.² Furthermore, the US Senate and House recently agreed on a bill that could require states to demonstrate that 95% of pregnant women get tested in order to receive Ryan White funds.³

The debate over whether testing should be mandatory, routine without explicit consent, or voluntary makes it important to assess physicians' beliefs about these policies and whether guidelines are being followed. We conducted a survey to examine physicians' self-reported beliefs and practices about HIV testing (n=121). Herein we report results concerning HIV testing of pregnant women, using a subsample of physicians who provide care for pregnant women (n=61). We . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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