A new law allowing minors between 14 and 17 years old to consent to the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases went into effect on Wednesday.
Previously, the law only allowed minors 14 and over to consent to the treatment, not prevention.
Heather Lusk, executive director of the Hawaiʻi Health Harm and Reduction Center, said the new law will allow more minors to access life-saving preventative care, particularly those at high risk like LGBTQ and transgender youth.
"Some of the folks that we're talking about may not have the types of relationships with their family that are necessary to navigate these issues," she said.
"The irony was, is that once you had HIV, we could support you. But now that we can prevent HIV with this daily pill or with a shot, it's another option for folks to know about," she said. "It'll allow them to have any preventative, whether it's monkeypox or anything else that they weren't able to consent for on their own."
Lusk hopes that the new law will also increase awareness of the HIV prevention treatment Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis — commonly known as PREP. It can be administered as an oral pill or a shot.
The law also protects those consenting to care from being inadvertently exposed to their parents or guardians through insurance claims.
