US: Bill to reform Indiana HIV criminalisation law fails to clear the state’s Senate

Reform of HIV Criminalization Laws Gaining Traction in Indiana but Not Yet There

By Rasha Aly

The latest attempt to modernize Indiana’s antiquated HIV criminalization law has failed. Though state House representatives passed Indiana House Bill 1198, it did not clear the state’s Senate.

However, this does not stop HIV Modernization Movement-Indiana (HMMI) and other advocates for people living with HIV (PLWH) from fighting for change. As Carrie Foote―who chairs HMMI―told TheBody, these laws “don’t reflect modern science.” Though that is undeniable, she and her colleagues will have to wait until next year’s legislative cycle to see if reform will pass.

Given bipartisan support for HIV criminalization reform―HB 1198’s co-authors are GOP state representatives Wendy McNamara (R-District 76), Edward Clere (R-District 73), Sharon Negele (R-District 13), and Ann Vermillion (R-District 31), with the sponsorship of Republican state Sen. Susan Glick (R-District 13)―their chances appear favorable.

Confronting Flawed HIV Criminalization Laws and Policies

As written, the bill would somewhat mitigate a law that Indiana officials passed in 1988. That law empowers police officers to upgrade the act of placing bodily fluids on another person to a more serious offense when HIV is involved. So, if a PLWH spits on another person, police officers automatically enhance the repercussions, elevating the minor charge to a felony charge. The repercussions become more severe if the person exposed to fluids is a law enforcement officer.

If HB 1198―which died in the state Senate on Thursday―had passed, officials would have done away with the heftier charge for PLWH who spit on other people or put any other bodily fluid on another person except for blood. The bill’s written text reads that it would remove “certain sentencing enhancements for battery and malicious mischief that relate to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Repeals certain offenses concerning the donation, sale, or transfer of blood or semen that contains HIV.”

In other words, PLWH would have faced the same charges as people who are seronegative if they spat on a police officer. Although HB 1198 would have eliminated felony enhancements for spit, Foote noted that officials retained the felony enhancements when the bodily fluid involved blood.

HB 1198 would also have changed the legal standard toward PLWH who donate blood. Under the current law, PLWH who donate blood can be charged with a felony offense, even if they have not yet been diagnosed and are, therefore, unaware of their serostatus. As McNamara has noted in her remarks on the matter, under the current law, over the past 20 years, police officers have charged 15 PLWH who donated blood―even though medical officials and blood-safety experts say current testing protocols screen blood and prevent any donations that contain the HIV virus from being used.

HIV Criminalization Laws Are Anti-Science and Likely Violate the ADA

As Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s memo on blood draws notes, if blood samples test positive for illnesses such as syphilis, HIV, hepatitis, and the human T-lymphotropic virus, blood bank officials will not use the blood. Furthermore, someone from the organization will notify any donors whose blood tests positive to let them know about their STI status and also inform them that they can no longer donate blood.

Foote, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1988, notes that HIV criminalization laws benefit no one. Most of these laws were passed in the 1980s and 1990s when Americans, including the medical and scientific community until the mid-’80s, did not know much about how HIV was transmitted. “It was a totally different world in the 1980s,” she said. “There was a lot of fear, a lot of stigma.”

Since that time, the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy explains, it has become widely known that “people only transmit HIV if a person’s bloodstream comes in contact with certain fluids of a person living with HIV … through a mucous membrane (found in the rectum, vagina, mouth or tip of the penis), through open cuts or sores, or by direct injection (from a needle or syringe).”

So, “why are we stigmatizing these people with the virus?” Foote asked while pointing out that the state’s current law disregards scientific advancements and unfairly targets a historically marginalized population―PLWH.

Melissa Keyes, the executive director for In diana Disability Rights, agrees with this assessment. She wrote and submitted a letter to Indiana’s legislature explaining why the old-fashioned regulations are not needed. Keyes told TheBody that her organization is not a lobbying group and is neutral toward HB 1198, but she wrote its letter to educate lawmakers. She also noted that the state’s current HIV criminalization laws could violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

As Indiana Disability Rights’ letter explained, “Laws criminalizing people living with HIV without basis in current objective scientific evidence risk violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Title II of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by state and local governments. Indiana’s HIV criminalization laws based on this outdated science may constitute disability discrimination because the laws expressly treat people living with HIV differently from others engaging in the same behaviors.”

Attempts at HIV Decriminalization and Reform Are Not Over

Activists looking to improve the lives of PLWH have been trying since 2019 to revise Indiana’s outdated laws. They tried five times, including introducing two House bills in 2022. This year would be the sixth attempt.

Three of those five attempts failed outright, with the first endeavor at eliminating stigmatizing language (HB 1325 in 2019) not even making it out of a Senate committee. The second try―HB 1158, which would have repealed the notification requirement health officers must make if they believe someone has been exposed to HIV―also died, this time in 2022.

These notifications, Foote said, “create mistrust between doctors and patients.” Sharing one’s status is already difficult without facing the added stress that a doctor may be compelled to share that information with others―such as the police.

The third shot, HB 1032, wound its way through the state legislature in 2022 but did not make it to the Senate. If passed, it would have removed “sentencing enhancements for battery and malicious mischief … offenses concerning the donation, sale, or transfer of blood or semen that contains HIV.”

Foote says that when bills related to HIV have made progress, they have usually involved changing the bill’s language. For instance, in March 2020, the state General Assembly passed House Bill 1182, which focused on changing the text in Indiana’s public health code. The new law eliminated the word “carrier” when referring to PLWH and instructed lawmakers to use the phrase “individual with a communicable disease” instead. Additionally, state legislatures substituted the words “dangerous” with “risk” and “spread” with “transmission” and stopped referring to AIDS as HIV. This reference addressed the fact that AIDS is a condition that occurs when HIV is left untreated to the point that one’s immune system is entirely defenseless―and is not a communicable virus unto itself.

Additional progress occurred a year later when Gov. Eric Holcomb signed HB 1340 into law on April 29, 2021. This law concentrated on Indiana’s criminal code and replaced the phrase “dangerous communicable disease” with “serious communicable disease.”

Although HB 1198 did not pass, Foote said that she focuses on the fact that “We’re making progress along the way.”

“Changing laws takes a lot of time,” she continued. “We keep plugging away and coming back. That’s kind of the challenge of lawmaking.” And as time has passed, Foote says that the movement to reform HIV criminalization laws has garnered support from a growing list of organizations, including the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council, Indiana Public Defender Council, Indiana State Medical Association, and the Indiana Minority Health Coalition. One reason why these groups have joined the cause is that Foote and likeminded allies constantly advocate for and educate others on the benefits of reform.

During the summer of 2022, HMMI conducted an interim study session focusing on educating lawmakers and various organizations about HIV transmission, including the fact that saliva does not transmit the virus. The Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council’s new support for HB 1198 signaled that the session was successful and that when the next HIV criminalization reform bill is introduced, it will have a greater chance of passing.

TheBody reached out to representatives McNamara, Clere, Negele, and Vermillion and Sen. Glick for comment on what inspired them to support HIV criminalization reform. None of the legislators responded to the request.

Kenya: People living with HIV will continue to lobby for change after disappointing High Court decision

“HIV is not a crime!” – People living with HIV disappointed by High Court judgment in HIV criminalisation case

31 March 2023 – Nairobi, Kenya
Communities of people living with and affected by HIV are disappointed with the Nairobi High Court’s decision dismissing Petition 447 of 2018.

This is a Petition was filed in December 2018, that asked that the Court declare section 26 of the Sexual Offences Act 3 of 2006 to be unconstitutional, void and invalid, and therefore struck from the law. This law criminalises deliberate transmission and or exposure of life-threatening sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. The manner in which it has been interpreted has caused harm to persons living with HIV.

On 20 December 2022, Justice Ong’udi in the Nairobi High Court dismissed the
Petition, upholding the law’s constitutionality.

“We are disappointed with the judgment. Evidence from across the world shows us that criminalisation does not prevent HIV transmission. It makes effective HIV testing, treatment and disclosure harder and it increases stigma and discrimination”, said Carlin Kizito.

The communities were particularly concerned that the law leaves women living with HIV vulnerable to unjust prosecution. “Women are usually the first to find out about their
HIV status when they test during pregnancy. Because of this, the law makes them vulnerable to prosecution because they will be assumed to be the one who brought HIV into the relationship even when this is not the case,
” said Jerop Limo, Executive Director of Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health Program (AYARHEP)

Maurine Murenga of Lean on Me Foundation said that the State does not have the means to prove scientifically that one person necessarily transmitted HIV to another.
She said further, “Laws like this also spread misinformation about HIV. We’ve seen a number of women living with HIV being prosecuted for breastfeeding, yet breastfeeding guidelines state that breastfeeding is safe for women on HIV treatment. In fact, the World Health Organisation recommends it.” Maurine further added that “HIV is not a crime or a death sentence. With effective treatment, you can live a long and healthy life. Effective treatment also makes HIV undetectable and therefore untransmissible. Testing, treatment and support should be our focus, not punishment,”

Bozzi Ongala of the Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health Program (AYARHEP) spoke on the need for using science to improve laws on HIV, “We urge that there be a progressive updates in the law in response to Scientific advancements on HIV research.”

“We, the networks of people living with HIV are encouraged that the Petitioners intend to appeal the judgment. We shall continue to lobby the government to change the law. On behalf of people living with HIV, we look forward to positive justice.” said Patricia Asero of ICW Kenya.
Signed:

  1. Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health Program (AYARHEP)
  2. ICW Kenya
  3. DACASA
  4. Operation Hope Community Based Organization
  5. Network of People Living with HIV (NEPHAK)
  6. Lean on Me
  7. MOYOTE
  8. YPLUS Kenya

Mexico: Civil society urges Supreme Court to rule against the constitutionality of law penalising HIV or STI exposure

Changes to the Penal Code of Querétaro, would endorse “discrimination”.

Translated with www.DeepL.com, please scroll down for English version

Currently, the Penal Code of the State of Querétaro imposes penalties on anyone who “knowing that he or she suffers from a serious illness in an infectious period (…) puts the health of another in danger of contagion”.

Querétaro, 10 March 2023.- The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SJCN) should be careful, since if it were to endorse the constitutionality of the “Garrote Law”, approved by the Congress of Querétaro during the pandemic, it would be endorsing discrimination, emphasised Luis Felipe Zamudio, director of the Centre for Guidance and Information on HIV-AIDS (COIVIHS).

This is in reference to article 127-BIS of the State Penal Code, which establishes penalties, comparable to the crime of injury, for anyone who “knowing that they suffer from a serious illness during an infectious period (…) puts the health of another at risk of contagion through sexual relations or any other transmissible means”.

In this sense, Zamudio warned that Querétaro, like other states in the country, “criminalises with this article in its Penal Code, those who have a sexually transmitted infection or live with HIV, since the Civil Registries also prevent access to marriage for those who live with this health condition.

For this reason, Zamudio stressed that civil organisations are keeping an eye on what happens in the SCJN, as the decision taken by its plenary will have repercussions for all states.

“It would be endorsing discrimination and would lead to a very serious problem. This would also be a catastrophe in terms of human rights, because then we would be talking about the fact that the Supreme Court does not have all the experience it should have, and that is what the ministers are there for,” he argued.
He also stressed that part of the political agenda of COIVIHS is to repeal this reform of the Penal Code and will ask local deputies who are on the Commission on Health, Vulnerable Groups or Human Rights, as well as the Human Rights Ombudsman (DDH), to make a proposal to reform local legislation.

It should be recalled that recently, Minister Yasmín Esquivel Mossa had planned to endorse the constitutionality of the “Garrote Law”, however, after receiving opinions from her colleagues on the Court, she announced that she was withdrawing her proposal.


Reformas al Código Penal de Querétaro, avalaría “discriminación”
Actualmente, el Código Penal del Estado de Querétaro impone penas a quien “sabiendo que padece una enfermedad grave en período infectante (…) ponga en peligro de contagio la salud de otro”.

Querétaro, 10 de marzo del 2023.- La Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación (SJCN) deberá de ser cuidadosa, ya que de avalar la constitucionalidad de la “La ley Garrote”, aprobada por el Congreso de Querétaro en la pandemia, estaría avalando la discriminación, enfatizó Luis Felipe Zamudio, director del Centro de Orientación e Información en VIH-Sida (COIVIHS).

Esto al hacer referencia al artículo 127-BIS del Código Penal del Estado y que establece imponer penas, equiparables al delito de lesiones, a quien “sabiendo que padece una enfermedad grave en periodo infectante (…) ponga en peligro de contagio la salud de otro, por relaciones sexuales u otro medio transmisible”.

En este sentido, Zamudio alertó que Querétaro, al igual que otros estados del país” criminaliza con este artículo en su Código Penal, a quien tiene una infección de transmisión sexual o vive con VIH, ya que, también se impide en los Registros Civiles el acceso al matrimonio, a quien vive con esta condición de salud.

Por ello, Zamudio recalcó que las organizaciones civiles están al pendiente de lo que ocurra en la SCJN, pues la decisión que tome su pleno, repercutirá para todos los estados.

“Estaría avalando la discriminación y se metería en un problema muy fuerte. Eso además sería una catástrofe en materia de derechos humanos, porque entonces hablaríamos de que la Suprema Corte no del todo, tiene toda la experiencia, que debería de tener y que para eso están ahí los ministros y las ministras”, argumentó.
Asimismo, subrayó que parte de la agenda política de COIVIHS, es lograr derogar esta reforma del Código Penal y se solicitará tanto a los diputados locales que estén en la Comisión de Salud, Grupos Vulnerables o de Derechos Humanos, al igual que a la Defensoría de los Derechos Humanos (DDH), para que realicen una propuesta y se logré reformar la legislación local.

Cabe recordar que, recientemente, la ministra Yasmín Esquivel Mossa tenía previsto avalar la constitucionalidad de la “Ley Garrote”, sin embargo, tras recibir opiniones de sus compañeros de la Corte, anunció que retiraba su propuesta.

Mexico: Nayarit congress repeals laws criminalising the transmission of HIV and other infectious diseases

Nayarit Congress approves reforms to combat discrimination against people living with HIV

Translated with Deepl.com. Please scroll down for article in Spanish

The Congress of Nayarit approved reforms to the State Penal Code so that people with HIV and diseases transmitted by intimate contact are not discriminated against and enjoy their right to the development of their personality and privacy.

The proposal was presented by the president of the 33rd Legislature, Congresswoman Alba Cristal Espinoza Peña, who endorsed the request of groups of people with these diseases.

“Society and legislators, this is the way to continue searching for a more inclusive and respectful Nayarit, it is once again the result of the combination of society and legislators, we have to break the stigmatising barriers”, declared Espinoza Peña.

By removing the crime of contagion from the Penal Code, this vulnerable sector will no longer have to suffer discrimination for having a sexually transmitted disease.

Nayarit joins the states of Aguascalientes, Jalisco, San Luis Potosí and Tabasco, where their Penal Codes do not provide for a specific crime for the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases through intimate relations; this does not mean that it will not be prosecuted, but that it will be subject to the crime of injury.

In this same session, the deputies reformed the Law on Women’s Access to a Life Free of Violence and the Penal Code, regulating violence by extension (vicarious violence) as a criminal offence, in order to inhibit violence against the partner or ex-partner through manipulation or affecting the children.


Aprueba Congreso de Nayarit reformas para combatir discriminación hacia personas con VIH

El Congreso de Nayarit aprobó reformas al Código Penal del Estado para que personas que padecen VIH y enfermedades transmitidas por contacto íntimo, no sean discriminadas y gocen su derecho al desarrollo de la personalidad e intimidad.

La propuesta fue presentada por la presidenta de la 33 Legislatura, diputada Alba Cristal Espinoza Peña, quien hizo suya la petición de colectivos de personas con estos padecimientos.

“Sociedad y legisladores, ese es el camino para poder seguir buscando un Nayarit más incluyente y más respetuoso, es una vez más el resultado de la combinación de la sociedad y legislador, tenemos que romper las barreras estigmatizantes”, declaró Espinoza Peña.

Al eliminar el delito de contagio del Código Penal, este sector vulnerable ya no tendrá que sufrir discriminación por contar con una enfermedad de transmisión sexual.

Nayarit se suma a los estados de Aguascalientes, Jalisco, San Luis Potosí y Tabasco, lugares donde sus Códigos Penales no tienen previsto un delito en particular para el contagio de enfermedades de transmisión por relaciones íntimas; ello no significa que no será perseguido, sino que se sujetará a través del delito de lesiones.

En esta misma Sesión las y los diputados reformaron la Ley de Acceso a las Mujeres a una Vida Libre de Violencia y el Código Penal, regulando la violencia por extensión (violencia vicaria) como delito penal, ello para inhibir la violencia contra la pareja o expareja a través de la manipulación o afectación de las y los hijos.

US: Bill put forward in Minnesota would repeal HIV criminalisation law

Democrats propose repealing law against knowingly exposing someone to HIV

Five Minnesota House Democrats are proposing eliminating the law that makes it a crime to knowingly expose someone to HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases.

The lawmakers’ bill (HF267) would repeal a 1995 law that allows prosecutors to charge someone who “knowingly harbors an infectious agent” and engages in behaviors that could transfer it to another person, such as through sex, sharing needles or by donating blood, sperm or organs. A person who takes steps to prevent transmission, as advised by health professionals, is not guilty of a crime under the law.

“This is part of a national — really international — movement to repeal laws that criminalize HIV,” said Rep. Leigh Finke, DFL-St. Paul. “These are old, outdated, homophobic statutes.”

Laws criminalizing the spread of HIV are not uncommon. Most were enacted at the height of the AIDS epidemic in the late 1980s and 1990s. Thirty-five states have laws that criminalize exposing others to HIV without their consent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The laws were enacted before the development of antiretroviral treatments, which can reduce the presence of HIV so much that it is undetectable and untransmittable. Many laws don’t account for those developments or else reflect the limited understanding people had at the time of HIV transmission by criminalizing actions like spitting or oral sex.

The CDC as well as the Department of Justice advise that states repeal those laws or “modernize” them, noting that they have not been shown to be effective in curbing the spread of HIV. The laws may even be counterproductive by disincentivizing people from getting tested and knowing their status.

Minnesota’s current law largely conforms to what the CDC recommends, however. The law applies to all communicable diseases, not just HIV. The law does not apply to people who take preventative measures such as wearing a condom or taking a viral suppression medication. And the law does apply to acts that don’t lead to transmission like spitting or oral sex.

While criminal cases are rare, they do occur. In the past five years, four people have been charged in Minnesota courts with knowingly transferring a disease, one of whom was convicted.

In 2018, Simon Santiago Vicente was charged with two felonies for raping a 20-year-old woman in the restaurant he managed in Lino Lakes. The woman called 911 during the attack and dispatchers reported hearing her say “no” repeatedly.

Police arrived and found Vicente on top of the woman in one of the booths. After being arrested and taken to the Anoka County jail, Vicente reported that he is HIV positive and had not been taking medications to treat it since 2016.

Vicente ultimately pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 62 months in prison for criminal sexual conduct and 55 months for transferring a communicable disease. The sentences were concurrent, so Vicente won’t serve additional time in prison because he transferred HIV.

Asked about that case, Finke said: “I think convicting a rapist for rape is sufficient.”

“I don’t think there’s a meaningful reason for us to have statutes that criminalize a rapist because that rapist has HIV. He’s a rapist and should be criminalized for rape,” she said.

Even if the law were repealed, prosecutors may still be able to seek longer sentences in sexual assault cases that result in victims contracting a communicable disease by arguing it is an aggravating factor.

The bill is co-authored by Democratic Reps. Athena Hollins of St. Paul, Jessica Hanson of Burnsville, Alicia Kozlowski of Duluth and Brion Curran of Vadnais Heights.

US: New bill would repeal Minnesota’s criminal statute on HIV exposure and transmission

HF 267, a bill that would repeal Minnesota’s criminal penalties for “transmission of a communicable disease from one person who knowingly harbors the agent to another”, has been introduced on January 11 and will be sent to the House’s Public Safety Committee for debate.

Current Minnesota law makes it a crime to knowingly engage in behaviour deemed to be a possible mean of transmission of a communicable disease via sexual intercourse, blood, sperm, organ or tissue donation, or sharing of needles or syringes for the purpose of injecting drugs.

 

Ukraine: New protective HIV law adopted, but criminal liability for HIV exposure or transmission remains

The Parliament of Ukraine has adopted the Bill “On amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On combating the spread of diseases caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and on legal and social protection of people living with HIV”, which applies modern approaches to HIV prevention, testing and treatment based on WHO guidelines.

Barriers to HIV testing have been reduced by enshrining in law the long-standing practice that testing can be carried out by non-governmental organisations on a peer-to-peer basis.

The archaic concept of ‘risk groups’ has been abolished, with the law referring instead to practices that may involve some risk. There are also key populations to which the state should direct its efforts to prevent the spread of HIV.

From now on, a person is considered to be “living with HIV” only from the moment of laboratory confirmation of the diagnosis. If a rapid test shows that you have HIV antibodies, you are not yet considered to be living with HIV.

The law guarantees universal access to HIV services regardless of legal status in Ukraine, which is in line with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, is introduced into the legal sphere

Self-testing is introduced into legislation: you can test yourself for HIV – on your own or with the help of a counsellor.

Minors can get tested on their own initiative from the age of 14 (under 14 – at the request of their parents).

Every blood donation will be subject to an HIV test before it can be used – this is now part of the law.

The law explicitly prohibits the humiliation of people on the basis of belonging to various key populations, such as MSMs.

New progressive regulations will be adopted at the Ministry of Health level, on testing procedures, diagnosis, etc.

All of the above are innovations from draft law 6364, which was adopted as a whole by the Verkhovna Rada at its first plenary session this year.

The new law is the result of many years of efforts by many governmental and non-governmental partners, including the Centre for Public Health of Ukraine, 100% Life – PLWH Network, UNAIDS and many others, as well as community organisations such as the All-Ukrainian Association of People with Drug Addiction, Positive Women, the National LGBTI Consortium, Legalife-Ukraine.

 

US: New bill in North Dakota aims to modernise outdated HIV-criminalisation law

Letter: North Dakota has a chance to destigmatize HIV and AIDS

Opinion:

“Folks living with HIV/AIDS are valuable contributors to their families, communities, and warrant equal treatment under the law,” Fargo resident Kara Gloe writes.

House Bill 1281 is an opportunity to right a wrong. The current law is discriminatory and codifies stigma faced by people living with HIV/AIDS. Similar laws don’t exist for herpes, hepatitis or other STIs with no cure. Considering there have only been three convictions under this law, it’s a solution to a problem North Dakota has never had. Frankly, it does more harm than good.

As a mental health therapist serving people living with HIV/AIDS in North Dakota, every client discusses the stigma. For many, someone discovering their status without their consent is a fear constantly running through their minds. For many, it is or has been the reason they are isolated, stuck in unhealthy relationships, suffer from substance use disorder, etc. It’s a major contributing factor to depression, anxiety and/or has caused or contributed to trauma. It is the reason they stopped attending church or have lost their community. I have heard how others’ ignorance plagues my clients, either as thousands of paper cuts or as full frontal emotional and psychological assaults.

Medical advances take us further away from the AIDS epidemic and failed health policy of the 1980s. HIV is no longer a terminal illness, but rather a manageable long-term disease not unlike diabetes. People having access to resources needed to heal trauma and develop coping skills for thriving, instead of just surviving, benefits everyone. Folks living with HIV/AIDS are valuable contributors to their families, communities, and warrant equal treatment under the law. I hope North Dakota legislators and their constituents will send the message that North Dakotans agree.

 

US: Bill to modernise Indiana HIV laws advances to the full House

Legislation to modernize Indiana’s HIV laws clears House committee

People with HIV would no longer be subject to harsher criminal penalties under legislation that advanced out of a House committee Wednesday.

If you put your bodily fluid or waste on someone – like, say, spitting on them – it’s a misdemeanor in Indiana. But laws passed decades ago said that if you know you have HIV, it becomes a felony.

Carrie Foote said such laws reflect an outdated understanding of how HIV spreads. Foote, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1988, leads the state’s HIV Modernization Movement.

“HIV is not transmitted that way,” Foote said. “HIV is transmitted in very specific ways: sexually or if you share intravenous drugs with somebody.”

The measure, HB 1198, initially got rid of harsher penalties for putting bodily fluid on a law enforcement officer when you have HIV.

The statewide police union, represented by Ed Merchant, didn’t like that. He said police prefer the law the way it is – even if officers aren’t at risk from contracting HIV from things like spit.

“This provides our officers with better cover,” Merchant said. “It penalizes – it makes a felony for doing that.”

Rep. Wendy McNamara (R-Evansville) attempted a compromise – the bill now leaves in a felony if a person with HIV puts blood on a public safety official.

Other parts of the bill completely eliminate criminal penalties for donating blood or semen when you know you have HIV. Advocates said testing has eliminated the risks of such donations – and people with HIV can even be organ donors now.

More importantly, Dr. David Welsh said, those criminal penalties cause people to avoid getting tested for HIV in the first place – if they don’t know they have the virus, they can’t get charged.

Welsh represents the Indiana State Medical Association.

“Outdated laws can interfere with how we interact with our patients and can cause patients to distrust their physicians,” Welsh said.

The bill does make it a felony if a person with HIV isn’t following a treatment plan provided by a doctor and shares a needle or makes sexual contact with someone else without telling them they have HIV.

The measure is headed to the full House.

US: New bill in Indiana would remove sentence enhancements and criminal offences related to HIV

Indiana has harsher legal penalties for those living with HIV. A bill would change that.

Getting diagnosed with HIV was a death sentence in 1988, when Carrie Foote was 18 years old.

Thirty-five years later, the sociology professor at IUPUI has only the normal quirks of aging to worry about. Her chronic disease, with advancements in medicine, is entirely manageable with treatment.

But Indiana’s laws haven’t caught up to this reality. Laws on the books since the 1980s single out people living with HIV and give them stiffer penalties for certain acts, from donating blood or semen to spitting on another individual, despite advancements in scientific knowledge on how HIV is transmitted. Lawmakers are attempting for the fourth year to rectify the disparity, and have gained more support than in previous years.

“All we’re saying is just treat us fairly,” Foote told IndyStar after House Bill 1198’s first hearing Wednesday.

The bill, written by Rep. Wendy McNamara, R-Evansville, proposes eliminating the part of Indiana law that says those who know they have HIV and donate blood or semen can be punished with a felony. Clinical studies since this law was written have shown that people who undergo treatment can achieve an undetectable amount of HIV in their blood stream, which means they aren’t able to transmit HIV to other people. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration tests all donated blood and throws out any with traces of infectious disease.

Under existing law, purposefully spitting or putting some other bodily fluid, like feces, on another person is a misdemeanor. But it’s a felony for those who have HIV. The bill proposes removing the enhanced sentence for people living with HIV, as the modern scientific consensus shows these kinds of fluids do not transmit HIV, according to the CDC.

This is the fourth session where such a bill has been introduced. After hearing testimony Wednesday, the Courts and Criminal Code committee held the bill for a vote next week.

Foote, who chairs the statewide HIV Modernization Movement, said progress has been made every year in the Statehouse, starting with the removal or modernization of some language in the law that stigmatized people living with HIV ― changing “carrier” into “person with a communicable disease,” for example. The movement is a coalition of health providers, public health authorities, community leaders, legal experts and people living with HIV that formed in 2016 to work toward changing state laws.

This year, the bill gained new support from the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council. The council was swayed by testimony from Indiana Department of Health and Eskinazi Hospital officials during a summer study committee on the advancements in medical knowledge of how HIV is transmitted, assistant executive director Courtney Curtis said.

The council then researched how often it files charges related to these parts of the law. Indiana prosecutors haven’t filed any charges related to HIV-positive blood donors since at least 2015, and have only done so ten times in the law’s history, she said. They charge more cases relating to assault with bodily fluids, but this charge is not “clogging up our system,” she said.

Lawmakers do plan to work with the council to tighten up language in a section of the bill to ensure it meshes cleanly with Indiana code before next week’s vote.

In a study of court case filings from 2015 to 2022 by IUPUI and the UCLA School of Law, 98% of the 130 cases of battery by bodily fluid involved acts that cannot transmit HIV. The other 2% involved sex, which carries the risk of transmission if a person has a detectable amount of HIV in their system.

The persistent stigma affects people of color more. Though Black people made up 13% of the U.S. population in 2019, they made up 40% of the population of people living with HIV, according to the CDC. Only 9% of Black people who were eligible for HIV prevention treatment actually got it in 2020, compared to 65% of white people.

Tony Gillespie, vice president of the Indiana Minority Health Coalition, remembers a time when the city of Gary, where he’s from, had no services for Black gay men living with HIV. Having now lived with HIV for 30 years, he said he’s encouraged by the progress made in both Gary and with this legislation.

“I’m encouraged because this is such a move in the right direction in making science-based decisions and not fear-based,” he said.

The bill is met with skepticism from the Indiana state police union. Legal representative Ed Merchant said the Fraternal Order of Police is opposed to eliminating the enhanced charge for people with HIV who, for example, spit on an officer. The bill would keep in place the part of the law that says those with an intent to harm someone else can be charged with a felony, but Merchant said the FOP believes existing law gives officers “better cover.”

Indiana remains one of 35 states that have laws criminalizing HIV exposure as of late 2022, according to the CDC.

McNamara attributes this to a generational stigma rooted in fear-mongering from the 1980s and 90s. Anyone growing up at that time remembers turning on the TV and hearing about people dying from HIV/AIDS, she said.

“That fear predominates a lot of the mindset of my generation,” she said. “And I think that’s what makes it hard.”