A new Illinois law went into effect Jan. 1 requiring couples applying for marriage licenses to be screened for exposure to the AIDS virus. The cost of the blood test varies from $20 to $70.

The groups most at risk for exposure to AIDS are intravenous drug users, male homosexuals and people who received blood transfusions prior to the institution of routine testing of donated blood. These people know who they are. If they wish to be tested for AIDS, they can do so. In fact, they have been—and in numbers great enough to create long waiting lists.

The state is within its rights to pass laws which protect its citizens’ health. If the new testing requirement was going to have a substantial positive effect on curbing the spread of AIDS, then it might make more sense.

However, the law has two major flaws. First, in Illinois, large numbers of people test “false positive” the first time. The results will say they’ve been exposed to AIDS when they really haven’t. There are doctors who refuse to administer the tests because they don’t want to give their patients wrong results. The damage that can be done to people’s lives and loves is immense. And needless.

Second, the individuals concerned are at very low risk for having confirmed cases of AIDS. The Harvard School of Public Health estimates 3.8 million people nationwide will marry each year. Statistically, about 9,000 of the 3.8 million are likely to test positive for the AIDS virus, and only 1,200 will show positive results on second confirmatory tests. The cost of all this is estimated at $100 million annually.

That’s a lot of money in the pockets of pharmaceutical companies and government disease control testing centers. And that figure doesn’t begin to measure the costs, both financial and emotional, of relationships broken up by “false positives.”

In addition, there’s the whole question of what the state intends to do with these test results. There is no indication of what is to be done once the individuals exposed to the virus are identified. This conjures up visions of the state trying to prevent people from marrying, of quarantining individuals, of telling couples they can’t have children because AIDS can be transmitted to babies in the womb.

Until medical science can come up with a foolproof test for AIDS, and a way to either cure those who have the disease or immunize those who do not, the Illinois law must go.