75 Groups Denounce AIDS Initiative as Threat to Prevention, Care

SAN FRANCISCO — Leaders of 75 community organizations gathered here Friday to denounce Proposition 102, the AIDS initiative sponsored by Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton), as costly, counterproductive and “more dangerous” than the twice-defeated LaRouche AIDS initiative.

The Nov. 8 ballot measure “threatens to destroy a model system of AIDS prevention and care in California that is succeeding,” said Timothy Wolfred, executive director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which hosted a press conference to kick off a statewide campaign against the initiative.

The measure would eliminate anonymous testing centers for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the suspected AIDS virus, and would force physicians to report to health authorities the names of people who test positive for the virus. Doctors would also be required to report the name of anyone they “believe” to be infected with the virus.

The measure would also mandate extensive contact tracing and notification programs by county health departments. Such programs would divert millions of dollars from AIDS education and treatment efforts, “while turning our health departments into detective agencies,” American Civil Liberties Union attorney Matthew Coles charged.

Test Applicants

In addition, Proposition 102 would permit insurance companies to test applicants for HIV and screen out those who test positive. The result, Coles said, is that “all of the medical care costs of anyone who is HIV-positive would be shifted from the private sector to the public sector, potentially bankrupting public hospitals.”

“I can’t speak strongly enough against Proposition 102,” said Dr. David Werdegar, San Francisco city and county health director.

San Francisco’s AIDS education efforts, coupled with its anonymous testing and counseling programs, “have reduced the rate of new HIV infection to close to zero,” Werdegar said. The Dannemeyer measure would “undermine all we are doing” by driving infected populations away from the health-care system.

“Like Lyndon LaRouche, Dannemeyer has chosen a punitive and political response to a medical crisis,” added Benjamin Schatz, director of the AIDS Civil Rights Project, noting that the California Medical Assn. has already gone on record against the measure.