Law Commons^™

Can Condoms Be Compelling? Examining The State Interest In Confiscating Condoms From Suspected Sex Workers, Meghan Newcomer

Fordham Law Review

Confiscating condoms from suspected sex workers leaves them at risk for HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases, and unwanted pregnancy. Yet, police officers in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles collect condoms from sex workers to use against them as evidence of prostitution. Sometimes, the condoms are taken solely for the purpose of harassment. These actions put sex workers at risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases because they may continue to engage in sex work without using protection.

In the landmark case of Griswold v. Connecticut, the U.S. Supreme Court established a fundamental privacy right in the use and …

Funding Conditions And Free Speech For Hiv/Aids Ngos: He Who Pays The Piper Cannot Always Call The Tune, Alexander P. Wentworth-Ping

Fordham Law Review

The United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act pledges billions of dollars to fund NGOs combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic but requires recipients to adopt a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking. A possible recipient NGO confronts a tough decision: adopt an affirmative statement against prostitution and sex trafficking to accept the funds, alienating a vital partner in its efforts to eradicate HIV/AIDS; or deny the funds to speak its own message, though without the benefit of government assistance.

Courts are split on whether the Leadership Act’s policy requirement places an unconstitutional condition on federal funds that requires …

Aids, Employment, And The Direct Threat Defense: The Burden Of Proof And The Circuit Court Split, Sarah R. Christie

Fordham Law Review

This Note examines disability-related discrimination in light of the protections afforded by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and in the context of an HIV- or AIDS-infected employee. Under the ADA, an employer may legally fire a worker who poses a direct threat to the individuals around him or her. It is unclear, however, whether the burden of proving or disproving the claim that an individual is a direct threat lies with the employer or the employee. This Note analyzes the circuit split over which party bears the burden of proof under the direct threat standard in light of prospective …

Mother Of Atrocities: Pauline Nyiramasuhuko's Role In The Rwandan Genocide, Carrie Sperling

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article describes Pauline Nyiramasuhuko's role in the Rwandan genocide and her case before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). It explores a woman's ability to be equally involved in atrocities by exploring Pauline's case. Her case challenges the myth than women, by their nature, are incapable of being warriors, and that somehow their roles as women and mothers prohibit them from planning or participating in depraved violence.

Access To Affordable Hiv/Aids Drugs: The Human Rights Obligations Of Multinational Pharmaceutical Corporations , Lissett Ferreira

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Communities And Intimate Partner Violenec

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Panelist Valerie B, a survivor of domestic abuse, discussed her experience in a abusive relationship with another woman. She discussed the trauma and how she slowly got out of the relationship. Panelist Lisi Lord, associate director of programs at My Sisters' Place, then gave an overview of the things she has learned working with victims of violence on the LGBT community. She discussed some of the barriers they face as a marginalized group and how their expression of sexuality and societal response to it makes their problems unique. Panelist Lt. Grace A. Telesco, chair of the Behavioral Science Department of …

Social Risk And The Transformation Of Public Health Law: Lessons From The Plague Years, Elizabeth B. Cooper

Faculty Scholarship

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was the wake-up call that disturbed America from its mid-twentieth century slumber concerning the dangers of communicable diseases. Until AIDS was identified in 1981, most Americans felt largely impervious to health threats posed by viruses or bacteria. Polio, smallpox, and tuberculosis had been brought under control by the "magic bullets" of antibiotics and vaccines." We felt more susceptible to the ravages of cancer or the debilitation of heart disease. But, over the last twenty years, the (re)emergence of serious or life-threatening microbial- based conditions such as Ebola, hantavirus, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, and even …

Testing For Genetic Traits: The Need For A New Legal Doctrine Of Informed Consent , Elizabeth B. Cooper

Faculty Scholarship

Innovative medical technology has made it possible to test whether you are at increased risk for certain types of cancer. The mere processing of a vial of blood can reveal whether you have a genetic predisposition to develop breast, ovarian, or prostate cancer, or other life-threatening conditions. The Human Genome Project, an international endeavor seeking to map our genetic structures, has facilitated this increasing ability to test for genetic flaws. It is expected that as the human genetic map is filled in, and as flaws in our fundamental building blocks are identified, there will be a concomitant drive to test …

Why Mandatory Hiv Testing Of Pregnant Women And Newborns Must Fail: A Legal, Historical, And Public Policy Analysis Special Issue: Mandatory Hiv Testing Of Newborns And Their Mothers, Elizabeth B. Cooper

Faculty Scholarship

The debate surrounding mandatory HIV testing of newborns and pregnant women requires an understanding of the historical context of women in the epidemic. Although the epidemic first was recognized in gay men in 1981, anecdotal reports reveal that women already were dying from what seems to have been HIV-related symptomatology. Indeed, in Gena Corea's book, The Invisible Epidemic, we learn that, as early as 1981, not insignificant numbers of drug-using and former drug-using women were falling ill and not recovering from conditions that normally are not fatal, including bacterial pneumonia. Yet, because we did not necessarily expect these populations to …

The Victims Of Nimby, Michael B. Gerrar

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Not In My Back Yard, or NIMBY, in its various forms, has three principal types of targets. The first is waste disposal facilities, primarily landfills and incinerators. The second is low-income housing. The third is social service facilities, group homes and shelters for individuals such as the mentally ill, AIDS patients, and the homeless. This Article addresses the issue of the victims of NIMBY, with special reference to the effects of project opposition on racial minorities. Because the effect of facility opposition varies widely with the type of project involved, Part II arrays the types of relevant projects and shows …

Newborn Hiv Screening And New York Assembly Bill No. 6747-B: Privacy And Equal Protection Of Pregnant Women, Kevin J. Curnin

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Proposed New York Assembly Bill No. 6747-B5 attempts to answer one of the most urgent problems of the current HIV/AIDS epidemic: pediatric AIDS. Part I of this Note discusses the bill, which would respond to pediatric AIDS by mandating HIV testing for all babies born in the state and requiring disclosure to all mothers whose babies test positive. Part II of this paper briefly discusses the medical background of pediatric AIDS and HIV infection, particularly the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS in women and children. Part III describes New York’s current HIV screening program and compares it to the changes proposed under …

Can Hiv-Negative Plaintiffs Recover Emotional Distress Damages For Their Fear Of Aids?, James C. Maroulis

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hiv And The Need For A Voluntarist Approach, David A. Hansell, Esq.

Fordham Urban Law Journal

After a decade of fighting AIDS, the public health community has come to recognize that strategies to combat the infection must be premised on voluntarism and not on coercion. Attempts to combat AIDS with coercive public health strategies stem from a desire to force AIDS into an ill-fitting traditional disease-response framework, overlooking the differences between HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, including the limitations in available treatment modalities for HIV. A return to such a cramped, narrowly-medicalized view of the AIDS epidemic has enormous social implications and a coercive strategy would frustrate efforts to stem the spread of the disease. …

Aids Law: Impact Of Aids On American Schools And Prisons, The , Elizabeth B. Cooper

Faculty Scholarship

The American public largely has responded with fear and hostility rather than with knowledge and compassion to the presence of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ("AIDS") in society. Although our reactions are changing as we learn more about the syndrome and its causitive virus, some people continue to characterize AIDS as a well-deserved punishment of those groups most often afflicted with AIDS: gay men and intravenous drug users. Many people also persist in their erroneous beliefs that AIDS can be spread through casual contact. Although much remains to be learned about AIDS, there already exists an abundance of information upon which …