Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Waiting until marriage wouldn't protect you against someone who is hiding a communicable disease such as HIV. They'd just wait until after marriage to pass it on to you. Plenty of married people have been infected by their spouses.
Your point is valid in addition to the fact that there are plenty of people that wait until marriage and neither ever had an STD.
Except that HIV is no longer life-threatening. In almost every case, the virus can be reduced to almost zero chance of transmission with today's meds that are improving every year.
Even so, it's not desirable to have HIV and yes, it can be life threatening. Nobody wants HIV.
People who want to have sex without telling their partner they have something potentially communicable, are horrible people. They should be honest.
And if HIV is "no big deal" then why would it be a problem to tell someone you have it? There shouldn't be any shame right?? You should be able to tell your partner "Oh, I have HIV. No biggie."
Except that HIV is no longer life-threatening. In almost every case, the virus can be reduced to almost zero chance of transmission with today's meds that are improving every year.
So no, it should not be a crime to fail to communicate about a treatable virus with little chance of spreading to others. Any more than you would be criminalized for having HPV.
Is it a crime to not disclose or not know your illness with a potential partner?
....So, boo hoo, they don't want to disclose then let them cry about it from jail and the same should apply to people that know they have Hep C and other such diseases.
Reading the first few posts I have been thinking the same thing...syphilis, hep C. etc. as well as HIV.
Thats basically what he's arguing but many people oppose these laws because they say the laws unfairly target the gay community.
I spent seven years as a Crisis Intervention Worker in the AIDS epidemic, and later as an intake clinician for infected persons applying for assistance.
The point that matters most is that HIV is a disease, and it does not unfairly target anyone. It targets everyone where the opportunity is presented for it to thrive.
And, therefore, we need laws that protect everyone. (The case cited in the OP concerns an infected male who had sex with two women, it is more than likely that he was heterosexual. Most of the women whose intakes I did were infected by a heterosexual male partner. I am a gay man, and have that experience working at the height of the U.S. crisis, but I cannot see how a law clearly aimed at everyone targets gay men unfairly.)
1 in 7 people with HIV don't know they have it, so they wouldn't be able to tell and partners. IF someone knowingly does not disclose HIV or any other STI they should be held liable.
It does seem to me that the only conclusive way to prove guilt is if the person had a positive test result for HIV (or hep C, etc.) Otherwise, as someone else has already said, it can just become he says/she says. Unfortunately a person can be asymptomatic for a period of time and spread the HIV or hep C, etc.
There is also the situation of an injected person spreading their disease through sharing a needle they have used. If the person knows s/he is infected and passes the needle on, IMO it should still constitute a crime even though both persons are illegally using heroin for example.
People are responsible for their own well being. If you are sexually active and not in a monogamous relationship with someone else who is hiv negative, it is your responsibility to protect yourself. PreP in more than 99% effective in preventing hiv infection when taken as prescribed. People should be using condoms as well. With escalating STI rates, gonorhhea becoming antibiotic resistant, there are plenty of health risks for folks who are sexually active. Yes, one would think that a person living with hiv would be responsible and disclose that fact before becoming intimate but, it should not be a crime.
This man served 3 years in prison and has to register as a sex offender because he did not disclose that he had HIV to two women he slept with. (Neither woman contracted HIV from him, fortunately.) He says it is unfair and there shouldn't be a law keep HIV a secret with sex partners, and that he shouldn't be required to register as a sex offender.
The Push to End Punishment Fever against People with HIV:
Should not disclosing HIV to partner be charged as a crime, YES!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
