US: HIV Criminalization Task Force being set up to challenge Florida's HIV-specific criminal law

On April 3, 2015, SFGN interviewed Tami Haught, Sero Project Criminalization Conference Coordinator to discuss the HIV Criminalization Task Force in Florida.

Could you define “HIV criminalization” for the readers of SFGN?

“HIV criminalization” is the wrongful use of HIV status in a criminal prosecution, even when transmission was unlikely or impossible (a condom was used, the PLWHA had an undetectable viral load, or the behavior posed no risk of transmission, such as in biting, scratching, or spitting).

In discussions of HIV criminalization, “intent” has a similar importance to “consent” in discussions of sexual behavior. Could you explain how important “intent” is in this discussion?

The lack of intent is much easier to prove than intentional transmission. The lack of intent can be proven if you are doing everything right, like so many people living with HIV are. You’re taking your medication, you’re virally suppressed, or you’re using protection. Those defenses show that you are not intentionally trying to transmit HIV, because you are protecting yourself and your partner by taking your medications and using protection. Any of this would indicate an interest in not transmitting the virus, but under current HIV criminalization law, using a condom, or adhering to a medication regimen are irrelevant.

These laws appear to be based on a “protectionist” model of sexuality rather than an empowerment model. Could you discuss how the “protectionist” model has the potential to harm the very people it’s supposed to benefit?

When people think of sexual protection, generally it’s women being protected from men. Women, however, go to the doctor more often, and are more likely to take the HIV test than men are. These laws only target people who have taken the test and gotten their results.

Men have used the threat of these laws to keep HIV positive women from leaving them. After a break up, people have filed complaints based on these laws as revenge.

Could you discuss how HIV criminalization has worked in Florida?

There have been 250 charges filed in Florida and 153 convictions in Florida from 1998 to 2012. So far, the project has not been able to get breakdowns by race, gender, or sexuality. Lambda Legal and the ACLU are involved in this project.

You’re in Florida to set up an HIV Criminalization Task Force. Can you describe what you hope that Task Force will do?

The task force should include diverse people willing to advocate but also to reach out to legislators in Tallahassee for the reform of these laws. Floridians need to decide on how you want your laws to be modernized and what your political reality is. There will come a time when Floridians have to determine what is the minimal change that you will accept.

We have to reach out to faith based communities, everyone. It is not an easy conversation to have. It often takes more than one conversation. We’re going to have to be ready for the long haul, be persistent, and never give up. Because it can be done, but it’s definitely not easy.

Is there anything else you would like to say to the readers of SFGN?

We need your voices. We need your stories. Not just to legislators but also to other community members. It is by touching people’s hearts that we can make a difference to change the law.

If people wanted to find out more about the Florida HIV Criminalization Task Force, how could they?

To get involved with the Florida HIV Criminalization Task Force, people can email me at tami.haught@seroproject.com and I can get you added to the google group.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces Vacates HIV Aggravated Assault and Reckless Endangerment charges in Case of LTC Kenneth Pinkela (Press Release)

Press Release from The Sero Project

Ken Pinkela serves as a member of Sero’s Advisory Board.

New York, NY April 24, 2015:

The United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) has vacated HIV-related Aggravated Assault and Reckless Endangerment charges in a U.S. Army case involving LTC Kenneth Pinkela.

In the official CAAF announcement released on April 22, 2015, the high court said:

That said petition is hereby granted on the following

issue:

WHETHER THE EVIDENCE WAS LEGALLY SUFFICIENT TO FIND BEYOND

A REASONABLE DOUBT THAT APPELLANT COMMITTED AGGRAVATED

ASSAULT AND RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT IN VIOLATION OF ARTICLES

128 AND 134, UCMJ, BY ENGAGING IN UNPROTECTED SEX WHILE

HIV-POSITIVE.

That the decision of the Army Court of Criminal Appeals is

vacated and the record of trial is returned to the Judge

Advocate General of the Army for remand to that court for

reconsideration in light of United States v. Gutierrez, 74

M.J. 61 (C.A.A.F. 2015)

In February of this year, the CAAF ruled that Air Force Technical Sergeant David Gutierrez, who was accused of not disclosing his HIV positive status to sexual partners, was not guilty of Aggravated Assault and reduced charges against him to Assault and Battery. At the time of the alleged sexual contacts, Gutierrez was on antiretroviral medication, had an undetectable viral load and was not accused of transmitting HIV.

The Sero Project, a national network of people living with HIV, applauds the CAAF for its rulings in both the Gutierrez case as well as the more recent ruling in the Pinkela case, but noted the military still is out of step with contemporary science and other arms of the U.S. government.

“While the Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. Congress, the National Institutes of Health and other government agencies categorize HIV as a chronic manageable illness, military lawyers and military court decisions still explicitly label HIV as a ‘death sentence.’ They can’t have it both ways. While we applaud CAAF’s recent decisions, it is time for the entire Department of Defense to address HIV for the reality it is today, based on science not stigma,” said Sean Strub, Sero’s executive director.

The Sero Project called on the U.S. Army to re-evaluate its prosecution against Pinkela, who also serves as the volunteer director of Sero’s Military Policy Project. “There’s no rational basis for continuing to prosecute Ken,” said Strub.

Pinkela’s military legal counsel has accused the Army of inadequately investigating the charges against Pinkela and of refusing to allow critical evidence to be presented at trial. Pinkela has volunteered to undergo phylogenetic testing, which could prove the complaining witness acquired HIV from another party, but the prosecutors declined to order such a test.

In the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2014, Congress included specific direction to the Secretary of Defense to review and report back to Congress on all HIV- related personnel and disciplinary policies and procedures, to make sure they are consistent with contemporary science. That report has not yet been released.

H.R. 1586: Repeal Existing Policies that Encourage and Allow Legal HIV Discrimination Act of 2015, introduced by Rep. Barbara Lee (D–Cal.) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R–Fla.), seeks to help end the criminalization of HIV by providing guidance to the states and military to modernize their statutes to make them reflect contemporary science and not unduly stigmatize people with HIV.

The Sero Project is a network of people with HIV and allies fighting for freedom from stigma and injustice. Founded in 2012, Sero raises awareness, conducts research and mobilizes grassroots communities, policy leaders and advocates to address HIV criminalization.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces Vacates HIV Aggravated Assault and Reckless Endangerment charges…

Kenya: Detailed analysis of recent High Court ruling on Kenya’s HIV-specific law by Annabel Raw, head of Health Rights Programme at the Southern Africa Litigation Centre

On 18 March 2015, in Aids Law Project v Attorney General and Others [2015] the High Court of Kenya declared section 24 of the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act (“Act”) unconstitutional. I applaud the impetus of the decision but I want to argue that the narrow focus of the Court’s judgment reduces its potential to advance rational health policies and laws.

Section 24(1) of the Act requires a person aware of being HIV-positive to “take all reasonable measures and precautions to prevent the transmission of HIV to others” and to “inform, in advance, any sexual contact or persons with whom needles are shared” of their HIV-positive status. Subsection (2) prohibits “knowingly and recklessly, placing another person at risk of becoming infected with HIV”. Contravention of these provisions is a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment for up to seven years, and/or a fine. Under section 24(7), a medical practitioner who becomes aware of a patient’s HIV-status may inform anyone who has sexual contact with that patient of their HIV-status.

In 2010, the AIDS Law Project sought a declaration that section 24 of the Act was unconstitutional and “unacceptable discrimination” on the basis of health status. It argued that the undefined terms of “inform”, “in advance” and “sexual contact” renders section 24 vague and overbroad, contrary to the principle of legality. It submitted that the provision violates the right to a fair hearing, equality, non-discrimination, and sexual privacy. The petitioner was supported by an amicus curiae, the Centre for Reproductive Rights, which made submissions on the disproportionate impact that the provision would have on women, exacerbating stigma and undermining public health interventions.

In a unanimous judgment of a sitting of three judges of the High Court, Lenaola HJ held that the central issue was the provision’s vagueness and overbreadth. Focussing solely on the absence of a definition for “sexual contact”, the Court held that it is impossible to determine what acts are prohibited. Further, given that section 24 places no obligation on sexual contacts who have been informed of another’s HIV-status to keep that information confidential, the provision does not meet the standards for a justifiable limitation of the constitutional right to privacy.

Similar criminal provisions exist in a number of countries. The Constitutional Court in Zimbabwe is, for example, currently considering the constitutionality of Zimbabwe’s HIV criminalization law. The Kenyan judgment must be applauded to the extent that it emboldens the human rights critique of these laws and compels the Kenyan government to reconsider the provision.

It is disappointing, however, that the privacy violations were constructed so narrowly, with the Court failing to appreciate the risks of criminalizing non-disclosure more broadly, particularly for vulnerable groups, as raised by the amicus. Furthermore, by framing the vagueness and overbreadth ruling so strictly, the inhibiting effects of criminalization on effective public health interventions remain legally unscathed.

Insofar as the courts may be a useful forum to advance health rights and public health, perhaps a better legal foundation would be a rationality review of legislation. In a number of common law jurisdictions, this entails testing conduct or law against the ends that it claims to achieve. The standard typically requires that conduct needs to be rationally connected to a legitimate government interest or purpose in order to be lawful.

As made clear by the Act’s long title, its purpose is to prevent, control and manage HIV and AIDS, promote public health, and deliver appropriate care for persons living with HIV. The criminalization of HIV transmission and non-disclosure has come under heavy criticism by leading international experts and bodies for failing to protect human rights in a way that promotes public health initiatives for the effective treatment and control of HIV. If the argument against criminalization of HIV transmission is found persuasive in court, the legislation should be found irrational because it employs a strategy that is harmful to its purported ends.

It is in this sense that we might consider rationality review when using the courts in similar jurisdictions as fora to insist on public health policies and laws that are founded in scientific evidence and not fear and stigma.

Greece: Mandatory HIV testing law, Health Decree 39A, repealed again by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras

“I haven’t felt greater shame than when they caught us.”

That’s what Georgia told me as she recalled the moment in April 2012 that police detained her and dozens of other women alleged to be sex workers and forced them to take HIV tests. Those found to be HIV positive, such as Georgia, were arrested and charged with causing intentional grievous bodily harm (a felony) or attempted bodily harm (a misdemeanor), for allegedly having unprotected sex with clients while knowing they were HIV positive. The police and media outlets publicized the women’s personal data and photographs, and the Greek Center for Disease Control disclosed their HIV-positive status.

The good news is that today, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced the repeal of the health regulation that was used to justify these roundups. UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, and human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, had raised concerns about the regulation, which allowed the authorities to conduct HIV testing without informed consent in a misguided effort to curb the transmission of infectious diseases.

Most of the women were acquitted of all charges. But at least two of them, including Maria, a vivacious young woman who shared with me the humiliation she suffered but also her hopes for the future, have since committed suicide.

Sex workers continue to face other challenges. A new policing plan for the center of Athens announced on March 12 includes targeted operations against “women sex workers,” among others. Many women selling sex on the streets fall afoul of the strict regulations governing legal sex work and face daily harassment by the police.

Repealing a health regulation that led to such terrible abuse is a good first step. But the Greek government should also implement a genuine public health approach to people who exchange sex for money, drugs, or life necessities. And this means ensuring that police operations respect the rights of women whose lives are hard enough already.

US: REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act reintroduced by Congresswoman Barbara Lee even as some US states propose new HIV-specific criminal laws

The past month or so has seen a huge amount of activity around overly broad HIV criminalisation in the United States, culminating the reintroduction of the REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act by Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

As well as on-going arrests and prosecutions of individuals for alleged non-disclosure (and some excellent reporting on certain cases, such as that of Michael ‘Tiger Mandingo’ Johnson in Missouri or of two new cases on the same day in Michigan) new problematic HIV-related criminal laws have been proposed in Alabama, Missouri, Rhode Island and Texas.

Fortunately, most of these bills have been stopped due to rapid responses from well networked grass roots advocates (many of whom are connected via the Sero Project’s listserv) as well as state and national HIV legal and policy organisations, including the Positive Justice Project.

REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act

On March 24th, Congresswoman Barbara Lee reintroduced a new iteration of the REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act (H.R.1586), “to modernize laws, and eliminate discrimination, with respect to people living with HIV/AIDS, and for other purposes”.

The full text of the bill can be found here.

The last time the REPEAL Act was introduced, in 2013, it had 45 co-sponsors before dying in committee.  The first iteration, introduced in 2011, achieved 41 co-sponsors.

As of April 15th, the 2015 iteration has three co-sponsors, two Democrats – Jim McDermott and Adam B Schiff – and one Republican, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

As in 2011 and 2013, the bill has been referred to three House Committees: Judiciary, Energy and Commerce, and Armed Services.

Back in 2013, the Positive Justice Project produced an excellent toolkit that provides advocates with resources which “can be used in outreach efforts, including a guide for letter writing campaigns, calling your representative’s state and Washington D.C. offices, or meeting with your representative or the representative’s legislative staff.”

If you’re in the US, you can also show Congress that you support this bill at: https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/114/hr1586

Alabama

On April 1, 2015 the House Judiciary Committee of the Alabama Legislature held a hearing on HB 50, proposed by Democrat Representative Juandalynn Givan, that would increase the penalty for exposure or transmission of a sexually transmitted infection from a class C misdemeanour (punishable by up to 3 months in jail and a $500 fine) to a class C felony (punishable by up to 10 years in prison).

Representative Givan was apparently inspired to propose the bill after reading about a pastor in Montgomery, Alabama, who admitted in an October 2014 sermon that he was living with HIV and engaging in sex with women in his congregation without having disclosed his status.  (He wasn’t prosecuted, but appears to have lost his job, as of the last news report in December 2014.)

In an interview in March 2015, she told AL.com that Alabama is one of only 16 states in the nation where it is a misdemeanour rather than a felony to ‘knowingly expose another person to a sexually transmitted disease’.

“What this bill is about is responsibility and accountability…The aim of this bill is not to punish those people with a sexually transmitted disease but to hold those people accountable,” that knowingly transmit dangerous illnesses to other people.

Some of the testimony before the House Judiciary Committee – most of it against the bill – is reported (rather poorly) in the Alabama Political Reporter.

Before the hearing began, the Positive Justice Project Steering Committee sent a powerful letter to the members of the House Judiciary Committee, voicing their strong opposition to the bill.

Medical experts and public health officials agree that criminalizing the conduct of people living with HIV does nothing to decrease the rates of infection, and may actually deter conduct and decisions that reduce disease transmission. Consequently, the American Medical Association, HIVMA, ANAC, and NASTAD have issued statements urging an end to the criminalization of HIV and other infectious diseases. Notably, the U.S. Department of Justice recently issued “Best Practices Guide to Reform HIV-Specific Criminal Laws,” which counsels states to end felony prosecutions of people living with HIV as contrary to the relevant science and national HIV prevention goals.

The bill remains with the House Judiciary Committee, but seems unlikely to be passed given that there are no co-sponsors.

Missouri

On March 10th, Republican Representative Travis Fitzwater introduced HB 1181, which proposed adding ‘spitting whilst HIV-positive’ to Missouri’s (already overly draconian) current HIV-specific criminal statute.

It is unclear what caused Rep Fitzwater to introduce the bill.  However, advocacy against it was swift, with the local chapters of both ACLU and Human Rights Campaign, and Missouri-based HIV advocate, Aaron Laxton, planning to testify against it within days of it being introduced.

Although the bill was scheduled for a public hearing before the Civil and Criminal Proceedings Committee on April 7th, the community’s quick response meant the bill was not heard. According to Laxton, “within a matter of hours every member of the Civil and Criminal Proceedings Committee has received calls, emails, tweets and messages from many people” against the bill.

The proposed bill now appears to be dead, and advocacy in Missouri is now focused on modernising the existing HIV-specific law (which includes criminalising biting whilst HIV-positive) to take into account the latest science around HIV risk and harm.

Rhode Island

On February 24th, Republican Representative Robert Nardolillo introduced a new HIV-specific criminal law (H 5245) that would have criminalised HIV non-disclosure in the state for the first time.

In an interview with Zack Ford on thinkprogress.org, Rep Nardolillo said that as a survivor of sexual abuse he was surprised to discover that Rhode Island law does not allow for harsh enough penalties if HIV is passed on during a sexual assault.

However, although his proposed bill created a felony when someone with HIV “forcibly engages in sexual intercourse,” it also criminalised when someone “knowingly engages in sexual intercourse with another person without first informing that person of his/her HIV infection.”

The entire hearing before the Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee was captured on video, and an excellent blog post by Steve Ahlquist on RIFuture.org highlighted both Rep Nardolillo’s ignorance of the potential harms of the bill, and the sustained and powerful testimonies against the bill from public health experts, people living with HIV and HIV NGOs alike.

Ahlquist concludes, “In the face of such strong opposition, it seems extremely unlikely that this legislation will advance out of committee.”

All testimonies are available to view in short video clips on the blog. You can also read the written testimony of the AIDS Law Project of the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) here.

Texas

On February 25, Republican Senator Joan Huffman introduced SB 779, which would essentially have created an HIV-specific criminal law by the back door.

Texas repealed its previous HIV-specific criminal law in 1994 and uses general criminal statutes, including attempted murder and aggravated assault, for potential or perceived HIV exposure and alleged HIV transmission cases.

According to the Advocacy Without Borders blog, “SB 779  proposes to amend the state Health and Safety Code to allow for HIV test results (which are currently confidential) to be subpoenaed during grand jury proceedings – and for a defendant’s medical records to be accessed without their consent to establish guilt/innocence and also potentially to be used to determine sentencing. Essentially, this bill proposes to criminalize having HIV.”

The proposed law, and a number of other proposed HIV-related laws, was also critiqued in a Dallas Voice article highlighting the opinion of Januari Leo, who works with Legacy Community Health Service.

Leo, a longtime social worker who has worked with clients living with HIV, is blunt about the three bills: “They would criminalize HIV. HIV isn’t a crime. It’s a public health problem…These new bills use HIV status as a crime, against people who are suspects in a crime but have yet to be proven guilty. They’re allowing prosecutors to use private medical records, as mandated under HIPPA, as a weapon.”

Although it was considered in a public hearing before the State Affairs Committee on April 16, it now appears to be dead.

 

 

 

 

Victorian Government to repeal 19A and address HIV stigma

The Victorian Government has announced it will repeal section 19A of the state’s Crimes Act, which specifically criminalises intentional transmission of HIV and is widely considered to stigmatise people living with HIV. The law is the only one of its kind in Australia, singling out intentional HIV transmission for harsher penalties of up to 25 years imprisonment, while the maximum penalty for manslaughter is 20 years.

HIV organisations have lobbied for the change for some time, arguing that section 19A is stigmatising and unnecessary, because intentional infection with HIV could be considered under existing criminal offences such as “causing serious injury”.

Stigma against people living with HIV is also widely understood to be counterproductive to HIV prevention, and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the Global Commission on HIV and the Law and have singled out HIV-specific criminal laws as contributing to HIV stigma.

“People living with HIV are entitled to equality before the law, and this is another step forward in ensuring that,” Victorian Attorney-General Martin Pakula said.

“This is about reducing the stigma and discrimination faced by people living with HIV, and in turn promoting equal protection by the law of all Victorians.”

Equality Minister Martin Foley told the Star Observer he understood the potential for the repeal of 19A to be met with some resistance among gay men, but said it was a perfect example of why this is a necessary reform.

“This is about stigma, and removing stigma in particular within the community, and that’s almost an expression of how stigma creates within the community this self-fulfilling prophecy,” he said.

“I understand the whole notion of protecting members of the LGBTI community from transmission, but it’s not by punitive ‘big sticks’, it’s done through public health positive messaging… inducing fear and pushing people underground has been shown to be counterproductive.

“As so many informed, global experts — let alone community experts have said, this is how you do it, by removing the stigma, by encouraging proper discussion within the community about safe-sex practises, and if the disease is there, appropriate treatment.”

A commitment from the then-Labor Opposition to repeal the law was secured during last year’s AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne, on the back of a campaign led by Living Positive Victoria and the Victorian AIDS Council.

“Research around the world shows this is the right way to combat HIV,” HIV Legal Working Group chair Paul Kidd said.

“Our organisations strongly believe the Public Health and Wellbeing Act provides the best way to deal with allegations of risky behaviour — keeping the public safe and protecting human rights.”

Doherty Institute director and local co-chair for AIDS 2014 Professor Sharon Lewin said the repeal was important outcome from the conference.

“Reducing HIV transmission is best approached through effective public health policy and community engagement — not through criminalisation and stigma,” she said.

“The repeal of section 19A is a very welcome announcement and an important enduring legacy from AIDS 2014 to see an end to stigma and discrimination for all people living with HIV.”

Victorian AIDS Council chief executive Simon Ruth called on the Coalition to support the repeal.

“Now that this legislation has been introduced, we hope it is met with the same bipartisan support we have seen in the Victorian response to HIV/AIDS historically,” he said.

“Repealing 19A will allow us to combat the stigma experienced by PLHIV and to continue our work in HIV prevention — a vital step forward if we’re to see a future with no new HIV notifications in Victoria.”

The then-Coalition government indicated support for “removing discrimination” associated with section 19A of the Crimes Act during AIDS 2014.

US: Missouri proposal to add spitting whilst HIV-positive to criminal law likely defeated following strong pushback

On Tuesday, the Missouri House Committee on Civil and Criminal Proceedings held a hearing on HB 1181, a bill that would criminalize individuals knowingly infected with HIV who spit at another person. Contact with saliva has never been shown to result in HIV transmission.

HRC Senior Legislative Counsel Alison Gill testified in opposition to this harmful bill.

“According to the Presidential Commission on the HIV Epidemic, criminal sanctions for HIV transmission must be carefully drawn, directed only towards behavior which is scientifically established as a mode of transmission, and should be employed only when all other public health and civil actions fail to produce responsible behavior,” she testified. “H.B. 1181 fails to meet this standard because it criminalizes behavior with a low or negligible risk of HIV transmission, which may result in stigmatization and negative health outcomes among people with HIV and the LGBT community in Missouri.”

HRC urges the Missouri lawmakers to oppose this unnecessary and harmful bill.

The Positive Justice Project Steering Committee Voices Strong Opposition to Alabama Bill that Increase Penalties for Transmission of or Exposure to STIs

On April 1, 2015 the House Judiciary Committee of t he Alabama Legislature held a hearing on HB 50, proposed legislation that would raise conviction of exposure to or transmission of a sexually transmitted infection from a class C misdemeanor, punishable by up to 3 months in jail and a $500 fine, to a class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

US: Advocacy underway in Alabama to fight newly proposed bill to change 'knowingly' transmitting an STI from a misdemeanor to a felony

HIV/AIDS advocacy groups are preparing for a fight against a piece of legislation that would heighten the penalty for knowingly exposing a sexually transmitted disease to another in Alabama. Research shows stigmatizing and criminalizing HIV doesn’t reduce the transmission rate, and it actually discourages people from getting tested, Kathie Hiers, executive director of AIDS Alabama, said.

Rep. Juandalynn Givan’s bill is vague and makes is possible for spreaders of any sexually transmitted disease to be charged with a felony, she said.

“The way the bill is written if anyone puts anyone at any risk for any STDs or HIV it can be a felony,” Hiers said in an interview with AL.com. “Now, you can interpret that as any woman who has HPV could be guilty.”

She said 85 percent of women have HPV, a sexually transmitted disease, and many don’t even know it.

Givan, D-Birmingham, said she stands behind her proposed legislation.

“This piece of legislation simply imposes greater penalties for those who maliciously with the intent to recklessly by some type of malice or reckless disregard for the life and the health of another human being intentionally goes out and infects another person,” she said.

Givan said the intent of the bill isn’t to keep anyone from being tested for HIV.

She said Alabama law already defines a sexually transmitted disease, but she would be open to amendments to her bill.

The lawmaker decided to propose the legislation, heightening the penalties under current law from a Class C misdemeanor to a Class C felony, after hearing about a Montgomery pastor confessing his HIV-positive status to his congregation and admitting he engaged in sex with unknowing women.

A Class C felony carries a prison sentence of one to 10 years. A Class C misdemeanor carries a maximum prison sentence of three months.

Givan thinks current law is too lenient, and people who are intentionally infected are too embarrassed and afraid to come forward to law enforcement.

Alabama is one of only 16 states in the nation where it is a misdemeanor offense to knowingly expose another person to a sexually transmitted disease, she said.

Juan McFarland, the former pastor of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Montgomery, admitted during a sermon in September 2014 to being HIV-positive since 2003 and having sex with multiple women who weren’t aware of his status.

Montgomery police haven’t charged McFarland with any crime, but McFarland lost his job.

“It is pretty severe if you have been infected with HIV for a period of time and are having sexual intercourse with multiple women,” Givan said in a previous interview with AL.com. “You can only imagine that someone may have become infected.”

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) released statements against the criminalization of HIV.

“We oppose legal statutes that undermine public health by criminalizing transmission of HIV, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases,” the groups stated in a press release. “Studies have documented that these laws discourage individuals from being screened and treated for conditions when early diagnosis and treatment of infected individuals is one of the most effective methods to control the disease.”

Resources should be put behind evidence-based prevention methods not towards the criminalization, the groups said.

Hiers said everyone should take personal responsibility for protecting themselves against STDS, and criminalizing diseases doesn’t help.

“I think it lulls people into a false sense of security because if you make it all the responsibility of the HIV-positive person or the person who has the sexually transmitted infection then people may not practice universal precautions,” she said.

In this day and age, Hiers said everyone having sex needs to assume the other person has a sexually transmitted disease until they reach the point they are in a monogamous relationship and have been tested.

The Sero Project, a group working to end the criminalization of HIV, is expected to get involved and lead a grassroots effort against Givan’s bill if the lawmaker doesn’t table it herself.

Since research has proven that criminalizing HIV doesn’t reduce transmission, Sean Strub, the executive director of the group, said several states are considering decriminalizing it. Iowa became the first state to do so last year.

“So it is truly ironic that while much of the rest of the country is looking at changing these statutes, to slow the epidemic, a legislator in Alabama wants to make the statute more punitive, which will most likely make the epidemic in Alabama worse,” he said. “I’m sure that’s the opposite of what the legislator intends, but it is the likely outcome, which is tragic. Stopping this bill is, from Sero’s perspective, the single most compelling HIV prevention priority in Alabama right now.”

Zimbabwe: HIV-specific criminal law criticised for making women with HIV more vulnerable

Women in the country have condemned the law criminalising the willful transmission of HIV claiming that women always feel the brunt of the law. Criminalisation of willful or deliberate transmission has become controversial in a county. Willful transmission is defined in the Zimbabwean law as the failure to disclose one’s status or to take precautions for preventing the transmission of HIV/ AIDS.

Speaking during a TweetT@ble discussion held by the Netherlands Embassy and 263Chat, Martha Tholanah the Director of International Community of Women living with HIV Zimbabwe said the legislation is unlawful.

“HIV/AIDS has always carried the face of a woman and women always carry burden the HIV pandemic. The criminalisation of willful transmission also has a woman face which is unlawful as women always end up being victims of the provision,” said Tholanah.

She also said, “Women are always accused of bringing the HIV virus into marriages and the justice system has not done enough to protect women who end up being imprisoned for 20 years.”

While it is difficult to detect who infected the other in a relationship women have always been labeled as the culprits.

Cases of willful transmission are on the rise mainly based on HIV positive people who have had sex with the primary intent of transmitting the virus to their partner.

Several cases have been brought before the courts where individuals claim to have deliberately infected with HIV by their partners with many occasions pointing the woman as the one who infected the men.

Tamara Jonsson, the Program Officer of UNAIDS Zimbabwe said, “the provisions of the criminal law are problematic especially the criminalisation of non disclosure.

“Criminalisation of non disclosure has negative implications on women as it does not guarantee safety after disclosure.”

She went on to say that stories told always climax with the younger women eventually being summoned to the courts for allegedly infecting the male counterpart.

Tinashe Mudawarara a lawyer with ZLHR, said the law is overbroad and it’s the provision are wide, dangerous, and unlawful and thereby infringing on the right to protection of the law.