Congresswoman Looks To Block U.S. HIV Travel Ban

Aug. 3, 2007 (KGO) (KGO) -- East Bay congresswoman Barbara Lee wants to put an end to a law that forbids most people with HIV to travel to this country. So she's introducing legislation to change it.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee is a strong advocate for people living with HIV. She's pushed for more testing, even getting an HIV test herself in public. Now she wants to lift the ban on people with HIV who want to visit the U.S.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee: "We should lift it first because it was enacted in 1987 when very little information was known about HIV and AIDS, it's discriminatory, it's unjust and it's not really unnecessary. There is no public health benefit to having this ban in effect."

The ban was put in place 20 years ago by the Reagan administration.

Back then the Centers for Disease Control added AIDS on their list of "dangerous and contagious diseases." But as early as 1991, a team of medical experts from the CDC's Health Services concluded "admission of people with HIV would not significantly increase the risk of HIV infection to the U.S. population."

Kim Page-Shafer is with UCSF's Aids Research Institute.

Kim Page-Shafer, UCSF: "There is no evidence at all that this ban has had any productive affect or any positive affect on the state of our health or on the state of HIV infections in the U.S."

Today short term visas are granted by the State Department only to people with HIV who attend a professional or academic conference.

Rick Oltman is with Californians for Population Stabilization. He's in favor of maintaining the ban.

Rick Oltman, Californians for Population Stabilization: "If someone comes into the country with an infectious disease that simply adds to the number of people that has infectious disease and in our very mobile society today, we need to guard against the kind of diseases that can be spread."

Congresswoman Lee also says the ban has kept the United States from hosting the International AIDS Conference.

Just eight months ago President Bush said he wanted to ease the restrictions on travelers with HIV. Congresswoman Lee hopes the president will support her legislation and encourage other lawmakers to do so as well.

There are currently 13 countries that ban foreign HIV patients from entering. For more on that, read The Back Story.

>> LINK: Congresswoman Barbara Lee's HIV Travel Bill (PDF)

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