[Update] US: After years of effort, HIV decriminalisation bill heads to Governor’s desk

State lawmakers vote to decriminalize HIV in North Dakota

BISMARCK, ND (KXNET) — It took years of effort, but one new bill that passed the senate on Thursday will head to Governor Kelly Armstrong’s desk.

House Bill 1217 removes the criminal penalty for people living with HIV in North Dakota. For years under North Dakota law, people could be charged with a felony if they knowingly gave someone else HIV.

Fargo democrat Gretchen Dobervich spent the last three legislative sessions trying to get the bill passed.

“Because the only way we can stop the spread of any infectious disease is by testing and treatment,” Rep. Dobervich said. “This bill has not stopped any transmission of any infectious disease at all. In fact, no one has ever been charged with this bill in the 30 plus years that it’s been on the books.”

Spokespeople with North Dakota’s health and human services department supported the bill, arguing that people who live with HIV can now receive anti-retroviral therapy or ART, where they can become undetectable for the virus and cannot give the virus to someone else sexually.

Mexico: Activist calls for end to HIV criminalisation in Tlaxcala congress

Collective of the LGBTQI + community pronounces against the criminalization of HIV in Tlaxcala

Translated from Spanish with Google Translate – Scroll down for original article

Antonio Escobar Muñoz, activist and director of the HIV and Human Rights Program of the LGBTQI+ Tlaxcala Collective, made a statement at the state congress against the criminalization of HIV. This practice has been widely criticized by international organizations due to its negative impact on human rights and public health.

It is important to note that the criminalization of HIV is a global phenomenon that undermines both human rights and public health efforts. In Mexico, there are laws that criminalize the exposure or transmission of HIV, which has generated a debate about the need to reform or repeal these provisions.

This initiative seeks to eliminate stigmatisation and discrimination against people with HIV and ensure their access to health and justice services.

Se pronuncia colectivo de la comunidad LGBTTIQ + ante rechazo de la criminalización de VIH en Tlaxcala

Antonio Escobar Muñoz, activista y director del Programa de VIH y Derechos Humanos del Colectivo LGBTTTI+ Tlaxcala, realizó un pronunciamiento en el congreso del estado en contra de la criminalización del VIH. Esta práctica ha sido ampliamente criticada por organismos internacionales debido a su impacto negativo en los derechos humanos y la salud pública.

Es importante destacar que la criminalización del VIH es un fenómeno mundial que socava tanto los derechos humanos como los esfuerzos de salud pública. En México, existen leyes que penalizan la exposición o transmisión del VIH, lo que ha generado un debate sobre la necesidad de reformar o derogar estas disposiciones.

Esta iniciativa busca eliminar la estigmatización y discriminación hacia las personas con VIH y garantizar su acceso a servicios de salud y justicia.

Australia: Controversial HIV testing bill in South Australia faces backlash from experts

Alarm raised over proposed HIV testing laws in South Australia

South Australia is moving to bring in laws forcing people to be tested for HIV despite a report in New South Wales describing similar legislation as ineffective and unneeded.

Health organisation Thorne Harbour Health has expressed strong opposition to the South Australian Government’s proposed Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) (Blood Testing) Amendment Bill 2024, citing concerns over its scientific validity, potential to spread disinformation, and its exacerbation of stigma toward people living with blood-borne viruses (BBVs).

The bill intends to protect frontline emergency services workers by mandating blood testing of individuals who spit at or bite them. Yet, expert bodies such as the Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine have firmly stated that mandatory testing for BBVs is not an effective or evidence-based approach to public health.

“We support policies that ensure a safe workplace for all workers, including emergency services personnel. However, this bill is not an evidence-based approach to achieving that goal. It creates unnecessary anxiety for workers and does nothing to improve public health outcomes,” said Thorne Harbour Health Vice President and Secretary of the HIV Justice Network, Paul Kidd.

“The bill, as drafted, does not consider the actual risk of transmission,” said Kidd.

Throne Harbour Health argues that Testing should only be permitted where there is risk of transmission. HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C cannot be transmitted through saliva, meaning spitting does not pose a risk.

They also advocate that testing should only be ordered within 72 hours of alleged exposure, as this is the window in which prophylactic interventions (such as post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP) can prevent transmission. They say the proposed six-month time frame is ineffective and misleading.

They also highlight that emergency service workers should undergo immediate medical treatment if a risk is identified, rather than waiting for mandatory test results that may be misleading or delayed.

“People living with HIV continue to face stigma across many aspects of our lives, including in our interactions with police. It’s vital that emergency workers understand how HIV is transmitted and when they are at risk of transmission. There have been zero recorded cases of HIV transmission to an on-duty police officer in Australia,” said President of Positive Life SA, Kath Leane.

“By promoting inaccurate information about how BBVs are transmitted, this legislation does more harm than good. Not only does it put emergency workers at risk of misunderstanding real threats, but it also increases discrimination against people living with HIV,” said Leane.

Similar legislation has been passed in New South Wales and Western Australia. Last month the New South Wales Ombudsman questioned if the laws truly served the purpose they were designed for.

The NSW Ombudsman report monitoring the operation and administration of the Mandatory Disease Testing Act 2021, tabled in Parliament on 5 February, found the Act does not have “clear and measurable benefits” for workers.

The report recommends the NSW Government consider whether the Act “should be continued at all”. The report also found that the Act is mostly being used in situations where there is no risk of blood-borne transmission to a frontline worker.

Similar legislation was introduced in Western Australia by both the Barnett Liberal and McGowan Labor governments similarly against the recommendations of experts in the field of HIV. There were suggestions in 2019 that WA’s mandatory disease testing laws were being overused.

OUTinPerth recently approached both the Labor party and the Liberal party and asked if they still supported the Western Australian laws. We are waiting for a response.

New case study and documentary examines how Zimbabwe repealed its HIV criminalisation law

Today, the HIV Justice Network (HJN), supported by the International AIDS Society (IAS), released a video documentary, “It is Time!” – How Zimbabwe Decriminalised HIV, along with a case study report examining Zimbabwe’s successful repeal of its HIV-specific criminal law.

The report, Reforming the Criminal Law in Zimbabwe: A Case Study, explores how advocates, legal experts, and community leaders worked together to repeal Section 79 of Zimbabwe’s Criminal Code, which criminalised HIV non-disclosure, exposure, or transmission. It outlines key strategies used in the campaign and lessons for other countries seeking to end HIV criminalisation.

The 24-minute documentary “It is Time!” brings this story to life through interviews with those involved in the multi-year effort. It also explores how advocates responded when a new law threatened to reintroduce HIV criminalisation.

Zimbabwe’s experience highlights several key strategies:

Coalition-building: Bringing together civil society, legal experts, and policymakers strengthened the advocacy effort.
Public health and human rights messaging: Advocates demonstrated how criminalisation undermined Zimbabwe’s HIV response.
Scientific evidence: Expert testimony helped policymakers understand the realities of HIV transmission.
Legislative strategy: Repealing Section 79 as part of a broader legal reform helped ensure success.

The documentary “It is Time!” is now available on the HIV Justice Network YouTube channel.

Reforming the Criminal Law in Zimbabwe: A Case Study (English, pdf, 9 pages) can be downloaded here.

The documentary and case study will also be added to the HIV Criminalisation Online Course, available for free as part of the HIV Justice Academy.

The case study and video were launched during a webinar co-hosted by HJN and IAS, featuring discussions on the significance of Zimbabwe’s law reform for the global movement against HIV criminalisation from:

Marlène Bras, Director of HIV Programmes at the IAS;
Dr Ruth Labode, former legislator, and chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health in Zimbabwe;
Immaculate Owomugisha, a Ugandan lawyer and human rights activist who also sits on HJN’s Supervisory Board; and
HJN’s Senior Policy Analyst, Alison Symington.

A recording of webinar can now be viewed in English and in French on the IAS+ website.

US: Advocates hope report update will finally push Ohio to end HIV criminalisation

‘Guilty until our status is proven innocent’: Update on Ohio’s outdated HIV criminalization laws

With six Ohio decades-old laws still currently on the books that criminalize living with HIV, there is a new effort to give voice to the negative consequences and long-term impacts of the laws.

The Equality Ohio Education Fund and Ohio Health Modernization Movement (OHMM) released an update last week to their 2024 report, “The Enforcement of HIV Criminalization in Ohio,”which documents the use of Ohio’s HIV criminalization laws from 2014 to 2020 and the consequences of HIV criminalization across the state.

Key findings of the 2024 report include:

From 2014 to 2020, there were at least 214 confirmed HIV-related prosecutions in Ohio, of which over half (120 cases) came from the state’s “harassment with a bodily substance” law and about a third (77 cases) came under Ohio’s felonious assault law. The remainder (17 cases) were related to sex work.
The enforcement of Ohio’s HIV criminal statutes is geographically concentrated, with at least 26% (56 cases) of prosecutions occurring in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland). The other most-represented counties include Hamilton County (Cincinnati), with at least 26 cases, Lucas County (Toledo) with at least 16 cases, Franklin County (Columbus) with at least 15 cases and Montgomery (Dayton) and Warren counties, each with at least 10 cases.
Ohio’s HIV criminalization laws disproportionately impact Black communities, with at least 36% of defendants identifying as Black. Statewide, 29% of all defendants (62 people) were Black men.
In Cuyahoga County, 68% of HIV-related cases impacted Black Ohioans.

Most of the charges examined in the report fall under two Ohio laws.

One law makes it a crime for a person living with HIV (or hepatitis or tuberculosis) to “harass” someone with their bodily fluids. That would include spitting or throwing urine, feces or blood at another person.

Under the other law, a person can be charged with felonious assault if they have sex with another person without telling them that they are living with HIV.

The penalties for failing to disclose HIV status in Ohio are stiff regardless of whether the virus was actually transmitted or whether it was even possible for a person to transmit the virus. Possible sentences for individuals living with HIV can be anywhere from two to 29 times longer than those for Ohioans who are HIV-negative.

Most of the laws were passed decades ago, at a time fueled by fear and absent scientific understanding about how HIV is transmitted and before advancements in HIV-related treatment were widely introduced. Laws still remain in place in 34 states.

Giving voice

New to the report are the stories of three Ohioans who have been impacted by the state’s HIV criminalization laws.

Adam Reilly, OHMM legislative co-chair, said the goal of including these narratives is to humanize the laws to help Ohioans connect HIV criminalization to actual people.

“These are real people: your neighbors or even your family who have been directly affected,” said Reilly. “We hope that people finish reading the report, see the injustice and take action.”

One of those narratives came from Bryan C. Jones, a longtime HIV decriminalization advocate who lived with HIV for more than 42 years before passing away in December.

“To this day I’m still scared of having sex with someone,” Jones said. “The law says we are innocent until proven guilty, but for us [persons living with HIV/AIDS], we’re guilty until our status is proven innocent.”

Another narrative came from Anna – a pseudonym to protect her – a 37-year-old Black trans woman from Cleveland who was arrested for solicitation by an undercover detective. During the arrest, she confirmed her status of living with HIV.

“They asked me, was I HIV positive? I told them, ‘yeah,’” Anna said. “And next thing I know, they just blew it all out of proportion. Transgender woman, HIV positive, soliciting. They was trying to give me five years in prison.”

Anna took a plea deal, was sentenced to 18 months in a men’s prison – without access to gender-affirming care – and had to register as a sex offender, a consequence of Ohio’s laws that does not exist as a penalty in other states.

A part of her plea deal included making a mandated statement about her HIV status to the media.

“I [felt] like I was nobody. I mean, it’s like they made a debacle out of me,” Anna said. “Could you imagine walking out the courtroom and there’s cameras everywhere?”

The third narrative came from Kelley, a 46-year-old woman in Warren living with HIV. Kelley was was arrested and charged with felonious assault after her ex fiance claimed that she did not disclose her HIV status to him, which she states is untrue.

Kelley served five years of an eight year prison sentence.

“To this day, I still don’t understand why this is felonious assault,” Kelley said.

The hope for new legislation

Two bills were introduced in the Statehouse in late 2024 by then-Rep. Sara Carruthers (R-Hamilton) to bring the six laws more in line with modern science and research.

Although neither bill advanced beyond an initial November hearing, advocates are hoping future legislation is introduced to accomplish the same science-based approach.

“Spread the word about these narratives and contact your representatives,” the OHMM’s Reilly said. “The more that lawmakers hear from their constituents, the more that they will see that there is a want, a need and a desire to modernize these laws.”

At the very least, advocates hope the updated report educates more Ohioans and inspires strong emotion. In his other role as outreach and testing manager at Caracole – the Cincinnati-based AIDS-service organization – Reilly said he regularly speaks with clients who don’t know about the six laws, including those who are living with HIV.

“I have never had an experience of someone saying, ‘These laws sound like a good idea,’” Reilly said. “Maybe if people know more about the laws, they will become enraged and something can change.”

IGNITE ACTION

Read the updated report “The Enforcement of HIV Criminalization in Ohio” by going here.
To access The Buckeye Flame’s full 2025-2026 Guide to Ohio’s LGBTQ+ Legislation, click here.

HIV Is Not a Crime Awareness Day:
A Call to Action in a Time of Crisis

Today, on HIV Is Not a Crime Awareness Day, we stand in solidarity with people living with HIV and our allies who not only continue to fight criminalisation, discrimination, and stigma, but also the sudden loss of funding amongst rising political opposition. This year, the urgency of our fight has never been clearer. As the devastating consequences of US policy shifts ripple across the world, we are not just advocating for change – we are fighting for our lives.

Last Wednesday, at the UK Parliament, we brought together key stakeholders to highlight how unjust HIV criminalisation laws, arrests and prosecutions persist in the UK and across the Commonwealth. Similar events are taking place globally, reinforcing that this issue transcends borders.

With Zero Discrimination Day tomorrow spotlighting the power of communities in the HIV response, #WeStandTogether – today and every day – to end the unjust laws and policies that punish people not only for living with HIV, but also because of who they are, who they love, or how they make a living. In a world where stigma still shackles and injustice still reigns, HIV Is Not a Crime Awareness Day is not just necessary – it’s urgent.

The fight for justice also brings hope. On Wednesday, 5 March at 9am EST / 3pm CET / 4pm CAT / 5pm EAT, join us for a special webinar with the International AIDS Society’s Heart of Stigma programme (register here), where we will premiere a powerful new documentary and toolkit on Zimbabwe’s successful decriminalisation of HIV. Zimbabwe’s victory proves that change is possible even in challenging political environments.

This is not just a moment. It’s a movement. The time for action is now.

Mexico: Legislative progress expected on HIV decriminalisation bill in the State of Mexico

Repeal of the offence of ‘Danger of contagion’ is still pending in the legislature

The repeal of the offence of risk of transmission in the state territory is still pending on the local legislative agenda, said the president of the Network of Diverse Defenders of the State of Mexico, Jorge Leonardo Espinoza López.

The activist recalled that last year, in the framework of the International Day of the Fight Against AIDS, the deputy Luisa Esmeralda Navarro Hernández, Meme Nava, presented to the local Legislature a bill to reform section V of article 238 and repeal the second paragraph of article 241 and article 252 of the Penal Code of the State of Mexico, related to the risk of contagion, which is the criminalisation or criminalisation of people living with HIV who, by omission or action, transmit the virus to another person.

They argue that people are stigmatised

Espinoza López said that several sexual diversity associations in the state are seeking the repeal of this article of the State of Mexico Penal Code, as it stigmatises people living with this condition ‘it inhibits people from wanting to be diagnosed because they will be criminalised, even stigmatised by their partner or family’.

The president of the Network of Diverse Defenders of the State of Mexico suggests that once the crime of danger of contagion has been repealed, it will be possible to improve sex education and more and more people from diverse communities will approach health services.

Espinoza López mentioned that the initiative presented by Meme Nava is already being analysed by the respective parliamentary commissions, so they hope that the issue can progress this legislative year, and that the crime of danger of contagion will soon be annulled, as happened in Mexico City in 2024.

There is a willingness to abort the issue of repealing the crime of ‘danger of contagion’.

He recognised that the legislators of the State of Mexico have shown a willingness to address this issue, and therefore said he was confident that, as in the previous legislature, the demands of the diversity community would be heard on issues that have been in dispute for many years.

Finally, Espinoza López said that in addition to the issue of repealing the crime of danger of contagion, there are other pending issues such as the recognition of trans children and adolescents, the recognition of non-binary people, the creation of a specialised prosecutor’s office to attend to people of sexual diversity and the trans labour quota.

US: Lawmakers approve bill to reform HIV transmission laws in Maryland

Bills to repeal ‘antiquated’ law criminalizing transfer of HIV sail through House, Senate

Repeal supporters call current law discriminatory and ineffective at stopping spread of HIV.

Legislation that would remove a criminal penalty for intentionally transferring HIV to another person sailed through both the House and Senate chambers this week, garnering bipartisan support in the process.

That might be a surprise to some. In fact, Sen. Will Smith (D-Montgomery), who chairs the Judicial Proceedings Committee, said he was skeptical of the legislation when it first came to his committee last year. He ended up sponsoring the Senate version this year.

“I’ve had reservations on it. I, frankly, was not comfortable with it initially, and that’s because I didn’t understand the scope of how things are actually playing out,” Smith said Tuesday, after the Senate passed Senate Bill 356.

Smith and other supporters say the current law is counterproductive, antiquated and discriminatory. Repealing it would not only help destigmatize those living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but could actually help improve public health, they say.

“The law was, for right or wrong, thought to help curb the transmission of HIV,” said Del. Kris Fair (D-Frederick), who sponsored House Bill 39. “What public health experts and criminal justice organizations have taught us … is that we’ve actually seen the exact opposite.”

The Senate passed its version of the bill 33-11 on Tuesday, picking up two Republican votes. The House version passed 100-36 on Thursday, also picking up a couple Republican votes. One of the bills must still be passed by the other chamber before it can be sent to the governor for his signature, but with each chamber already passing a bill, the legislation is in good shape.

Since 1989, during the height of the AIDS crisis, Maryland has said that “an individual who has the human immunodeficiency virus may not knowingly transfer or attempt to transfer the human immunodeficiency virus to another individual.” A violation is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine up to $2,500 or up to three years in prison.

Fair says the law actually hinders public health efforts, “causing people not to get tested, to stigmatize people living with HIV, criminalized otherwise rather innocuous behavior … that would have nothing to do with the transmission or potential transmission of HIV.”

Currently, people living with HIV “walk around on a day-to-day basis with this weird Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. This code basically dictates their day-to-day lives,” Fair said.

“Because of the way that it’s written, because of the way it’s interpreted and because of the way it’s used by law enforcement and by the criminal justice system, innocuous day-to-day interactions that could be physical in nature or not, suddenly get applied to this code,” he said.

Fair said that the charge can be misused. He said that there have been situations where people with HIV have been charged after spitting on or biting someone, even though HIV does not spread through saliva. He also said that people can weaponize the law.

“A few examples include relationships that have soured – two consenting individuals were in a consensual sexual relationship,” he said. “But they had some kind of falling out, and then one person goes and files charges against their former partner because they’re mad at them … they’re stuck having this criminal charge levied against them.”

According to a report from the Williams Institute, there have only been 148 HIV-related charges in Maryland from 2000-2020, when the first HIV-related charge was issued in Maryland to the most recent charge as of 2024. The Williams Institute reports that more than 80% of the cases in that timeframe were dropped.

“It’s such an ineffective and misused tool,” Fair said. Despite that, efforts to repeal the law have been more than a decade in the making. Del. Shirley Nathan-Pulliam (D-Baltimore City and Baltimore County) introduced the first version of the bill in 2013.

“As a nurse, she recognized the way that this kind of criminalization of the day-to-day lives of Marylanders further stigmatizes the issue around HIV and actually frustrated public health efforts to reduce the transmission,” Fair said.

Fair took up the effort in 2023, when it passed the House for thei first time, but did not move in the Senate.

When the bill came up last year, Smith let it die in his committee.

“I was uncomfortable with it,” he said. “This was just not high up on the ledger. So I didn’t move on it.”

A year later, Smith is on board with the legislation and agreed to sponsor it because he believes the current law is “very discriminatory.”

“No other communicable disease was pulled out separately,” he said of the law that he said was “skewed towards, frankly, Black men.”

He also added that there are other charges, such as reckless endangerment, that are more appropriate to use in the case of someone maliciously spreading HIV.

“For me it was a way to say, ‘We can get rid of this antiquated thing that was really created for discriminatory practice,’ and also treat all of these dangerous communicable disease the same way,” Smith said.

US: Lawmakers support bill to update HIV transmission charges in North Dakota

North Dakota House votes to repeal ‘discriminatory’ HIV law

With a 50-43 vote, the House passed a bill to downgrade the crime of intentional HIV transmission from a felony to a misdemeanor, aligning the charge with other intentional disease transmission.

The criminal charge associated with knowingly infecting someone with HIV could change in North Dakota after lawmakers voted Wednesday, Feb. 19, to downgrade the crime from a felony charge to a misdemeanor.

According to state law, HIV is the only infectious disease that carries a felony charge if it is knowingly transmitted to another person.

Those found guilty of doing so face 20 years in prison and a $20,000 fine, while knowingly infecting someone with any other sexually transmitted disease is punishable by a fine up to $1,000.

House Bill 1217 would move the penalty for spreading HIV to the same misdemeanor class as other sexually transmitted diseases.

Bill sponsor Gretchen Dobervich, D-Fargo, said in a House Human Services hearing on the bill that the existing law, which was enacted in the 1980s, is discriminatory against people with HIV.

Dobervich added that in 35 years of the law being in effect, no one has been prosecuted.

“There has been a lot of discussion on this bill, and one of the things that keeps coming up is that HIV can be terminal. And it can — so can a lot of other infectious diseases,” she said. “This bill reflects the tremendous body of evidence that modernizing HIV laws decreases the risk of HIV, as people who are at risk of HIV are more likely to seek testing.”

There was no further discussion on the House floor before lawmakers passed the bill with a 50-43 vote, sending it to the Senate for consideration.

The state Department of Health and Human Services, American Civil Liberties Union and representatives of two health care clinics voiced support for the bill in its hearing. There was no opposing testimony.

Mexico: Criminalisation of HIV in Tamaulipas has a negative impact on public health

Danger of contagion: Tamaulipas criminalizes people with HIV

Translated with Deepl.com – Scroll down for original article in Spanish

The offence that penalises HIV carriers who have sexual contact with others is still in force. Morena has not supported the initiative to repeal it presented by deputy Magaly Deandar.

Tamaulipas criminalises and stigmatises people with HIV or any other disease considered ‘contagious’, ‘incurable’ or a ‘bad gene’. The offence of risk of transmission, a measure that punishes the risk of spreading a virus with imprisonment, is still in force.

The Penal Code of Tamaulipas maintains this offence with penalties ranging from six months to three years in prison. In twenty-five other states in Mexico, the penalties include the impediment to marry, denial of custody of one’s children and financial fines.

State law stipulates that a person who knowingly carries a venereal disease or HIV in an infectious period and who puts another person at risk of infection through sexual relations commits the offence of danger of contagion. In the case of spouses or cohabiting partners, the offence only proceeds if the offended party files a complaint.

In particular, article 203 of the Penal Code of Tamaulipas punishes HIV carriers. In a large part of the country, the ‘danger of contagion’ sanctions other sexually transmitted diseases.

Criminalisation encourages discrimination

According to the Mexican Network of Organisations against the Criminalisation of HIV, the criminalisation of the ‘risk of HIV transmission’ or similar concepts that appear in the legislation of the federal states generate more harm than benefits in terms of impact on public health.

This criminalisation undermines respect for and guarantees of human rights by promoting fear, stigma and discrimination, reinforcing the idea that people living with HIV or AIDS are criminals, dangerous and immoral.

The organisation points to the criminalisation of HIV patients, turning carriers into both victim and perpetrator. Focusing efforts on judging and punishing rather than promoting the prevention of contagion.

Tamaulipas seeks to decriminalise the danger of contagion

In 2022, deputy Magaly Deandar Robinson presented an initiative to repeal Article 203 in the Tamaulipas Congress. The Morenista argued that this measure violates human rights rather than recognising the institutional vacuum on the part of the public health service.

‘More than a question of laws, it is a question of human rights. That is how it should be for everyone,’ the legislator for Reynosa explained in an interview for Elefante Blanco,

Despite international recommendations from organisations such as the United Nations (UN), this proposal was rejected by the Morena majority. However, Deandar Robinson emphasised, the state congress could take it up for a second time in the next three months.

Magaly Deandar recognised that although this illicit act sought to stop the HIV pandemic, it ended up criminalising and making it difficult for people and carriers to approach specialised care centres.

‘It is the perfect time to reactivate the government to carry out HIV prevention tasks,’ she added.

In 2024, Mexico City, Nayarit, Jalisco, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosí and Tabasco removed the danger of contagion from their penal codes.

Peligro de contagio: Tamaulipas criminaliza a personas con VIH

El delito que sanciona a las personas portadoras de VIH que tienen contacto sexual con otras sigue vigente. Morena no ha acompañado la iniciativa para derogarlo presentada por la diputada Magaly Deandar.

Tamaulipas criminaliza y estigmatiza a personas con VIH o alguna otra enfermedad considerada «contagiosa», «incurable» o un «mal venero». El delito de peligro de contagio, medida que castiga con cárcel el riesgo de propagación de un virus, sigue vigente.

El Código Penal de Tamaulipas mantiene este ilícito con penas que van de los seis meses a tres años de prisión. En otros veinticinco estados de México, las penas incluyen el impedimento para casarse, negar la custodia de sus hijos y multas económicas.

La ley estatal estipula que comete peligro de contagio la persona con conocimiento de ser portador de un mal venéreo o VIH en periodo infectante y que pone en riesgo de contagio a otra mediante relaciones sexuales. En el caso de cónyuges o concubinos, el delito procede únicamente si él o la agraviada lo denuncia.

De manera particular, el articulo 203 del Código Penal de Tamaulipas castiga a portadores de VIH. En gran parte del territorio nacional, el “peligro de contagio” sanciona otras enfermedades de transmisión sexual.

Criminalización fomenta la discriminación

De acuerdo con la Red Mexicana de Organizaciones contra la Criminalización del VIH, la penalización del “riesgo de contagio del VIH” o figuras análogas que aparezcan en las legislaciones de las entidades federativas generan más daños que beneficios en términos de impacto en la salud pública.

Esta penalización atenta contra el respeto y garantía de los derechos humanos al promover el miedo, el estigma y la discriminación, fortaleciendo la idea de que quien vive con VIH o SIDA es criminal, peligroso e inmoral.

Dicha organización señala la criminalización de la que son víctimas los pacientes con VIH al convertir al portador en víctima y victimario. Centrando los esfuerzos en juzgar y castigar en lugar de fomentar la prevención del contagio.

Tamaulipas busca despenalizar el peligro de contagio

En 2022, la diputada Magaly Deandar Robinson presentó una iniciativa para derogar dicho el artículo 203 en el Congreso de Tamaulipas. La morenista argumentó que esta medida vulnera los derechos humanos antes que reconocer el vacío institucional por parte del servicio de salud publica.

“Más que un tema de leyes, es un tema de derechos humanos. Así debería de ser para todos”, explicó la legisladora por Reynosa en entrevista para Elefante Blanco,

Pese a las recomendaciones internacionales por organismos como la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU), esta propuesta fue rechazada por la mayoría de Morena. Sin embargo, enfatizó Deandar Robinson, el Congreso estatal podría retomarla por segunda ocasión en los próximos tres meses.

Magaly Deandar reconoció que aunque esta ilícito buscó frenar la pandemia por VIH, terminó por criminalizar y dificultar el acercamiento de las personas y portadores a los centro de atención especializados.

“Es el tiempo perfecto para reactivar al gobierno para realizar tareas de prevención contra el VIH”, agregó.

En 2024, Ciudad de México, Nayarit, Jalisco, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosí y Tabasco retiraron el peligro de contagio de sus códigos penales.