New Jersey Assembly Committee Passes Bill Giving Minors Right to Confidential HIV Testing

The New Jersey Assembly Health and Human Services Committee on Thursday voted 5-0 in favor of a bill that would allow minors to be tested for HIV without parental notification, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. While current state law allows minors to be tested and receive treatment for other sexually transmitted diseases and substance abuse without telling their parents, Assembly member Reed Gusciora (D), the bill's sponsor, said the law needed to be amended because the statute is "so old" that HIV is not included, the Star-Ledger reports. "Unless you protect their confidentiality, a lot of kids are not going to get tested," he added. Assembly member Samuel Thompson (R) abstained from the vote, saying that parents should know if their child requires treatment. "You're saddling a lot of responsibility on the kid," he said (Newark Star-Ledger, 10/4).