Women, reproductive rights, and HIV/AIDS The International guidelines on HIV/AIDS and human rights state that: “The HIV status of a parent or child should not be treated any differently from any other analogous medical condition in making decisions re- garding custody, fostering or adoption” (52). Yet, the option of adoptive care may not be open to people liv- ing with HIV because of national or local policies and regulations (60,61). Several U.S. community-based AIDS service providers interviewed in 2002-2003 reported that some of their HIV-positive clients were prohibited from visiting their children, lost custody of their children, or were not allowed to provide foster care or adopt children; this led the American Civil Liberties Union to express an interest in taking their cases to court (62). A few NGOs, such as YRG Care in India, offered their HIV-positive clients the option of adoption (63), but the topic was (and still is) scarcely addressed in the literature and in information materi- als for HIV-positive people. Stigma and discrimination in the healthcare sector The literature reviews revealed both anecdotal and more systematic documentation of stigmatization and discri- mination against HIV-positive women in the health sector. Research in countries as varied as Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Dominican Republic, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Russia, Uganda, the Ukraine, and Thailand showed that women often fear and actually experience HIV/AIDS-related stigmatization and discrimina- tion in healthcare settings (39,40,42,44,64-66). An evaluation of pilot PPT programmes in Jamaica found that one reason almost half of HIV-positive pregnant women did not receive antiretroviral therapy during delivery was because they failed to reveal their HIV- positive status to healthcare workers due to fears of stigma and discrimination (67). Pilot project in developing countries Contraception for HIV-positive women Comparison of findings from different countries indi- cated that the access of HIV-positive women to general information about family-planning and contraceptive supplies varies between urban and rural areas. Respond- ents generally said that family planning associations and public reproductive health programmes often have printed materials available; access was believed to be fairly good to at least some contraceptive methods in urban areas. Poland formed an exception to this general scenario, because contraceptives are fairly expensive and not reimbursed through health-insurance schemes. However, the range of available contraceptive options appeared to be limited in all seven countries. 417 None of the respondents—including health profession- als—said that information materials specifically ad- dressing contraception in the context of HIV/AIDS were available or easily accessible. The health professionals in the seven countries also did not appear to often dis- cuss family planning with women living with HIV and AIDS. The amount of contraceptive information given to HIV-positive women depended largely on preferences and attitudes of healthcare providers: most often, emphasis continued to be placed on the use of male condoms. Results of the field studies showed that knowledge of, and access to, emergency contraception is still limited in many places. In Argentina and Poland, there was active opposition to making emergency contraception more widely available because some religious groups mistakenly claim that it is abortifacient. In Kenya, Lesot- ho, South Africa, and Swaziland, bureaucratic and fi- nancial factors seemed to be impediments to increased availability. The Mexican Government had just passed federal regulations stating that emergency contracep- tion should be available through the public-health sec- tor but implementation of the regulations had not yet begun at the time of the study. The field studies investigated one other aspect of contraceptive use. ICW had received reports in recent years that antiretroviral therapy programmes may require women to use provider-defined contraceptive methods to be eligible for treatment. Women living with HIV who were on antiretroviral therapy were asked about this. Some focus-group respondents in Kenya men- tioned that they were asked to use condoms. Healthcare providers in Mexico said that they also promote condom use because it can help prevent infection with new strains of HIV. It was only in Lesotho that one HIV-positive woman said that she had been asked to use either injectables or an IUD so that her healthcare providers could supervise her fertility control. Women in Poland were asked to tell their physicians when they become pregnant so that their medication regimens can be changed if needed (a few antiretroviral drugs are contraindicated for pregnant women). Abortion-related care The topic of abortion—or even post-abortion care— appeared to be avoided by many respondents. A few healthcare professionals in Mexico spoke about abor- tion being taboo and illegal, although it is permitted in Quintana Roo State to save a woman’s life, in cases of pregnancy due to rape and in cases of foetal malfor- mation. Respondents in Lesotho and Swaziland men- tioned that some women travel to South Africa for legal abortions. The Swazi women expressed great concern