today, i watched an episode of oprah. the topic of the show was men living a double life a.k.a. living on the down low. these men were in heterosexual relationships, sometimes married. yet, they maintained sexual relationships with men, which they hid from their wife/girlfriend. one of the guests was a woman who contracted hiv from her now ex-husband, who was living on the dl. long story short, she was livid. she trusted him and he betrayed her. he infected her with a life-threatening disease. she went on to say that it took away her life, her humanity, and everything she had.
let me just say that i can't imagine what she's gone through. i applaude her for her courage to deal with the betrayal, to go on tv and share her story, and to live a life with hiv. now comes the part that irked me. oprah went on to ask her about the good news in her life. with a big smile, she announced that she and her boyfriend were having a baby. now, anyone who watches oprah knows that the audience claps and cheers for everything. trips, gifts, dogs, food, weight-loss, babies, makeovers, really...anything. but they didn't clap and cheer for this announcement. they clapped when she said she obviously lived more than the 2 years she thought she had. they clapped (twice) when she corrected oprah about using magic johnson as the poster child for hiv survival. maybe the audience felt the same way i did. i was pissed at her, for the baby.
throughout her convo with oprah, i listened to her talk about how this disease affected her. how she doesn't wish it on anyone. how this horrible disease ruins every aspect of your life. how if she had the option to take or leave the life she has, she would leave it. yet, she and her boyfriend chose to have a baby. i'm not a doctor. i'm not an expert. but i know enough to know that there's a huge chance this unborn baby can be infected with hiv. she told oprah they had unprotected, vaginal sex. obviously, the boyfriend knew there was a huge risk that he can be infected. fine. he's an adult. it's his life. he was given the option to take the risk or not. but this unborn child wasn't given an option. she went on to say that she's on meds that reduces the baby's risk to less than 1%. the last time i checked, less than 1% is not the same as 0%. i just don't understand how despite all the crap she's had to deal with as an hiv-infected woman, she would choose to put her baby at risk. she also tells oprah that hopefully her little girl won't have hiv. are you kidding me? you hope? i apologize for sounding like a b***h but hope isn't going to help her baby.---M.S.
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