Question
My boyfriend is HIV positive, can I get pregnant?
26 March 2012. Related: All topics, Pregnancy, Sero different couples.
Hello everyone I am a 26 year old woman. My boyfriend is HIV positive. We have lived together for one year, having protective sex .
Is it possible to have a child without being affected?
Answer
Thank-you for your question.
It’s great to hear that your relationship is going well and that you want to have children together.
A lot of couples have one person that is positive and the other negative. This is sometimes called being in a serodifferent or serodiscordant couple.
You can reduce your risk down to almost zero. The reason that the risk is not zero is because scientifically you can not prove that something in the future can never happen. The best is to say it becomes very unlikely for you to catch HIV.
This is an outline of how to reduce your risk from natural conception. You need to do all of the following, except the PrEP if your doctor does not think this necessary.
- Check that you are both able to have a baby. This service is usually easy to access at a fertility clinic.
- You should also both have a check up to make sure you don’t have an STI – this is also for the baby’s health.
- Your partner will need to be on HIV treatment. He will need to have an undetectable viral load for at least six months. In heterosexual studies this shows the risk of transmission to drop to close to zero.
- The fertility clinic can also help you know when during each month you are most likely to be able to conceive.
- Talk to your doctor or your partner’s doctor so they know this and can help. This doctor may be able to give you an additional safety medicine called Truvada. This contains two anti HIV meds that you could take the day before to have sex and an hour or two afterwards. This is called PrEP, although many doctors think this additional safety is not needed.
- Then, only during the day or two when you are most fertile.
- Remember to use condoms again at all other times, and especially during pregnancy when your risk to catch HIV increases.
Several years ago people used to a process called ‘sperm washing’. This is when a sample of semen is treated to remove HIV from the fluid that the sperm is in. It is only the fluid that is infectious. As well as making conception very medical, the conception rate is lower – less than 15% I think. It can be quite expensive and it’s not available everywhere.
For more information see the i-Base guide to HIV and pregnancy.
Hi Princess, is your partner on treatment? If he is and his viral load is below 200 there is no risk of transmission. Your husband being on treatment is also the most important way to keep him healthy and give you both the best chance of conceiving. Have you spoken to a doctor about trying for a baby? HIV is only one factor that could influence success. Fertility can be difficult and discussing it with a doctor will help manage this best.
I’m a second wife and my husband is HIV positive, and I’m Nagative, we have been trying to make a baby for 3 good years now however nothing is happening. What can I do to fall pregnant without contracting the disease? Can he donate sperm for me and then I go for IVF or?
Hi Nide,
Is your boyfriend on medication? If they are and their viral load is undetectable there’s no risk. Please see here: http://i-base.info/u-equals-u/ If his viral load is detectable then you may still be in time to use PEP. This needs to be taken max 72hrs after a possible exposure.
I’m negative and my boyfriend is positive, we had unprotected sex last night. So my chances are how in getting HIV. I’m 30 years of age!!!!!!
Hi Kg,
It’s great to hear that you and your husband want to have a baby. As Rebecca says above, the good news is that a lot of couples can have healthy HIV negative babies when one person is positive and the other negative.
Your husband will need to be on HIV treatment (ART). Has he already started this? This can dramatically reduce the risk of HIV transmission to you to zero.
So please talk to your doctors about planning to have your baby. Here’s the i-Base guide to pregnancy.
Hi my husband has told me that he is HIV Positive and we want a baby now where do we go for help or assistance
Hi Zieta,
It’s great to hear you want to have another baby. The good news is that if you are on HIV treatment (ART) and have an undetectable viral load you cannot transmit HIV. Even without using condoms.
Please see the U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable) info here. And here’s the guide to HIV pregnancy and women’s health.
Can you talk to the clinic about planning to have your baby? U=U can protect your boyfriend from HIV when you don’t use condoms.
Hi am 23 years old woman am in a 3years relationship and am hiv positive and my boyfriend is negative we have a baby together when I was pregnant is when I found that am hiv positive my boyfriend and I we using condom but now we going to take our relationship to the next step I want to have another baby with him how must I do