Will the New AIDS Pill Promote Promiscuity?

By Anne Hendershott
Crisis Magazine

More than four decades ago, Pope Paul VI predicted in Humanae Vitae that the emergence of the new reproductive technologies—especially the birth control pill—would lead to a “lowering of moral standards … and a rise in infidelity.” Today, with the emergence of Truvada, a pill that has been shown in clinical trials to be up to 99 percent effective in preventing the spread of AIDS through sexual activity, some in the gay community are beginning to echo these same kinds of concerns.

In a July, 2014 cover story in New York Magazine, writer Tim Murphy captures the paradox such a pill presents to the gay community in possibly changing what he calls “a mind-set of sexual prudence that has governed gay-male life since the early ’80s.” Pointing to the proliferation of T-shirts and Instagram captions reading “Truvada Whore,” Murphy presents both sides of this issue—pointing to the benefits of a pill that will surely save lives, but at the same time encourage the self-destructive promiscuity of the past. Interviews published in Murphy’s article reveal the fears held by many who have spent their lives working to end the scourge of AIDS that “reverting to pre-condom habits might be tempting fate again.” In a conversation with Dr. Martin Markowitz, a veteran of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, the AIDS researcher warned: “Mother Nature’s a bitch. Don’t underestimate her.”

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Anne Hendershott is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Veritas Center at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. She is the author of Status Envy: The Politics of Catholic Higher Education; The Politics of Abortion; and The Politics of Deviance (Encounter Books). She is also the co-author of Renewal: How a New Generation of Priests and Bishops are Revitalizing the Catholic Church (2013).