A few years after marrying my wife, I was diagnosed with AIDS. I must have contracted it during my pre-conversion promiscuous years. Does this mean I must abstain from sex with my wife for my lifetime? Doesn’t my wife have an obligation to satisfy me sexually, since her body is not her own?
First, the principle. What we have here are conflicting obligations. She does have an obligation to satisfy you sexually, but you have a greater obligation to protect and nourish her. If you cannot have relations with her without endangering her, then you should not have relations. I am afraid I have no sympathy for a man who believes his sexual needs are comparable to his duty to protect his wife. This principle applies to all manner of sexually transmitted diseases.
Having said this, a few things should be said about AIDS. If by AIDS you mean that the HIV virus is present in your body, then I would refer you to the book Inventing the AIDS Virus by Peter Duesberg. It is quite possible that your situation does not warrant abstention from sex at all— but only because the HIV virus is harmless. Wilson, Douglas. Fidelity. Canon Press, 1999.
