State Rep. Betty Price suggests ‘quarantine’ for HIV patients

Georgia Rep. Betty Price, R-Roswell, in a study committee this week asked if the government could “quarantine” people with HIV.

Price is married to Tom Price, who recently resigned as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Her comments came in a discussion of the spread of HIV and disparities in care within the state. The committee is dedicated to examining and addressing barriers to access to healthcare in Georgia.

“And I don’t want to say the quarantine word, but I guess I just said it,” Price said. “Is there an ability, since I would guess that public dollars are expended heavily in prophylaxis and treatment of this condition. So we have a public interest in curtailing the spread. What would you advise or are there any methods legally that we could do that would curtail the spread?”

DWags wrote:Annnnnd Sarah Huckiby Sanders just implied you shouldn’t take on a military 4 star general even if he’s lied through his teeth.

Jesus, this is getting scary. These people are really fucked up.

"My first impression is, 'Thank god, as a doctor, she is not treating people with HIV,' because she clearly knows nothing about the disease," said CNN legal analyst Mel Robbins. "As was the case with Ebola, to have any kind of quarantine, the immediate threat to the public would have to be so substantial as to warrant the infringement upon someone's individual rights."

The LGBQT advocacy group GLAAD, which was founded in 1985 to fight against "defamatory coverage of people living with HIV," according to its website, demanded an apology from Price in a statement issued Friday. Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, said it is "reprehensible" that the comments were made by a physician and lawmaker.

"We have come a long way in how we understand and talk about HIV as a nation, and comments like those made by Georgia State Representative Betty Price fly in the face of that progress, and of basic decency," said Ellis.