WEST VILLAGE — Gov. Andrew Cuomo plans to introduce new legislation that would allow minors in New York to get HIV treatment and prevention medication without parental consent.
The proposal is one of many in the 510-page State of the State document outlining his executive budget, and is connected to his plan to bring the number of new HIV diagnoses in New York below epidemic levels by 2020.
Minors already have the right under current state law to consent to STD and HIV testing, and can be treated for STDs without the consent of a parent or guardian.
But if they test positive for HIV, they cannot get medical treatment without parental consent, "even in cases where the young person has been abandoned or abused by his parents," the governor noted in his proposal.
"Once diagnosed, young people often face additional barriers than can prevent or delay access to care, including denial and fear of their HIV infection, misinformation, HIV-related stigma, low self-esteem, lack of insurance, homelessness, substance use, mental health issues, and lack of adequate support systems," the proposal reads. "Because of these factors, many young people need to have the ability to consent to their own HIV treatment."
The governor's "blueprint" to end AIDS, known as Ending the Epidemic or ETE, places great emphasis on connecting New Yorkers who have not contracted the virus but are at risk of infection with pre-exposure phylaxis, or PrEP, an HIV prevention medication.
The governor's legislation would also allow minors to access PrEP without parental consent, "just as they can for other reproductive or sexual health-related services," the State of the State document explains.
Transgender activists and LGBT health experts have highlighted adolescent access to PrEP as a major factor in the success of the governor's plan to end AIDS, because the most at-risk youth are those who don't have the support of parents or legal guardians.
Many of New York's estimated 5,000 homeless youth are LGBT, state legislators acknowledged last year when allocating $4.5 million to pay for 1,000 beds in homeless youth shelters.
When the original blueprint didn't include provisions to connect teens to PrEP, trans activists were disappointed, pointing out that trans kids are even more likely to be kicked out or abandoned by their families, and engage in sex work to survive, putting them at even greater risk.
"The blueprint really didn't reach out to the adolescent community," said Jahlove Serrano at a town hall meeting in Harlem last year. "The adolescent population can't access PrEP... A lot of them are my brothers and sisters who I care very much about."
LGBT health experts who lauded Cuomo's new proposal cited the particular vulnerability of young men of color.
"We need to do better by those young people in terms of providing them with all the tools and all of the options," said Doug Wirth, CEO of Amida Care, which provides healthcare to New Yorkers on Medicaid living with HIV and their children. "The requirement that a parent consent to that does in fact represent a barrier to care. I fully support adolescents having access and the ability to consent for PrEp and HIV medications."
