During today’s parliamentary session, deputies of the National Assembly of Armenia didn’t approve the package of bills on granting 14-year-old teens the right to take an HIV test without their parents’ knowledge.

Thus, with 45 affirmative and 46 negative votes, the parliament didn’t approve the package of bills on making amendments and supplements to the Law on Prevention of Viral Diseases Causing Human Immunodeficiency” and related laws presented by the Ministry of Health.

With this legislative initiative, among other points, children who turn 14 (at least 16 under the existing legislation) were going to be allowed to take an HIV test without notifying their parents. What’s more, the information on the results of the test would be confidential, and the teen would be able to decide to inform his or her parents or not. This sparked serious discontent and fears among a number of parliamentarians who crushed the legislative initiative of the Ministry of Health.