September 13, 2007

Ending Labor Pains in California

After passing in the California state senate last month, Californian women can now safely conceive with an HIV-positive partner, thanks to a bill signed by Governor Schwarzenegger, which allows for sperm-washing procedures to be utilized in the state.

California law had previously prohibited transferring or inseminating body tissue from a positive donor. The bill, introduced by state senator Carole Migden, allows couples to utilize “assisted reproduction” under certain guidelines. Previously, California stood alongside Delaware as the only states in the country that barred the decade-old procedure.

The bill’s guidelines require that the sperm be processed to minimize infection, that consent be mutual and that the procedure be recognized by the American Society of Reproductive Medicine.