New state laws target people with AIDS
By Joyce Chediac
Many state governments are passing laws that carry jail
sentences for "knowingly transmitting" the HIV virus. Instead
of declaring war on AIDS, these laws declare war on the people
who have AIDS.
This will not stop the AIDS epidemic. On the contrary,
criminalizing HIV is a sure-fire formula for making the most
vulnerable afraid to seek medical help. It can drive the
disease deeper into the population and continue to spread the
virus, particularly among gay men and Black and Latino youths,
who have the highest transmission rates.
The same legislatures that claim to be fighting AIDS have
cut back AIDS education programs. Today people know less about
how to protect themselves from AIDS than they did seven years
ago.
Cutbacks have ended some of the most effective programs-like
a New York City-based peer program designed to reach women of
color. And public health campaigns fail to emphasize that the
disease is transmitted through sexual contact, hypodermic
needles or blood, according to the University of California at
Davis.
A UC-Davis phone survey revealed that more people in 1997
falsely believed they could become infected by sharing a
drinking glass with an HIV-positive person or sitting on a
public toilet than did in 1991.
Gov't declares war on sick people
At least 29 states made it a crime to transmit or "expose
others knowingly" to HIV. This year, 16 state legislatures have
introduced such bills, including New York, where the AIDS
advocacy movement was traditionally the strongest.
Serious jail sentences are involved. In Arkansas, the State
Supreme Court recently upheld the conviction of a 24-year-old
man sentenced to 30 years in prison for "knowingly transmitting
the virus" to a woman through unprotected sex.
More state laws now require HIV testing for specific
segments of the population, usually prisoners and pregnant
women. A New York State law passed in June requires doctors to
report the names of HIV-positive people to officials.
Such measures create obstacles to HIV prevention. People
will fear arrest from visiting the doctor or even
admitting they are HIV positive or have AIDS. The laws declare
war on the sick, instead of declaring war on the sickness.
Youth suffer most
According to a study titled "Dangerous Inhibitions: How
America is letting AIDS become an Epidemic of the Young," by
Chris Collins, youths have the greatest rate of increase of the
HIV virus.
This study, a collaboration between the Center for AIDS
Prevention Studies at the University of California at San
Francisco and the Harvard AIDS Institute, documents that "half
of all new HIV infections occur among people under the age of
25.
"AIDS is now the sixth leading cause of death among 15-24
year olds.
"The HIV epidemic in young men is concentrated among men who
have sex with other men.
"The rate of HIV infections is growing faster among young
women than any other group. The proportion of U.S. adolescent
AIDS cases who are female has tripled from 14 percent in 1987
to 45 percent of the reported cases in the year proceeding July
1996. Heterosexual sex accounts for three-quarters of cases in
young women.
"Race is an even more important factor. Sixty-one percent of
cumulative AIDS cases in Americans age 20-24 are among people
of color, particularly African Americans and Latinos."
The study concludes that the pattern of infection among
American youth is consistent with the evolving global epidemic.
"In each society, those people who were marginalized,
stigmatized, and discriminated against-before HIV/AIDS
arrived-have become over time those at highest risk of HIV
infection."
These are the very people least likely to have medical
coverage, and who feel most intimidated by doctors and
police.
Gay youth's sexual orientation has already been
criminalized. Black and Latino communities already suffer from
a lack of medical coverage, little local medical care, and
disproportionately high numbers of youths in jail. The new laws
will drive people of color further from all forms of medical
care.
Those unable to afford the $10,000 a year needed for AIDS
medication will be locked out of the medical care system.
How to fight the epidemic
The AIDS epidemic can and will be stopped by empowering
people against the virus.
All people, especially youth, need the skills and tools to
protect themselves from HIV, including accurate education and
access to condoms. People need ready access to HIV testing and
counseling, free from fear of exposure or breach of
confidentiality. People seeking care need to know that they
will never be threatened or arrested.
These services need to be made readily available in all
communities, presented in a way designed to make community
members feel comfortable and receptive.
The fight to stamp out AIDS is part of the overall battle
for social justice. Empowerment of the population includes the
basic human rights to health care, a job, education, and decent
housing, to live free of racism, homophobia and sexism.
The AIDS activist movement-not legislatures-won rights for
people with AIDS. It is time for all concerned with social
justice to pick up that banner of struggle and continue the
fight.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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