Iowa HIV case and the ignorance about HIV
I was on the phone with my friends at The SERO Project while monitoring the Iowa Appeals Court website this week waiting and hoping that Iowa would have shown a level of maturation in both law and humanity in its opinion involving Nick Rhoades...
Sadly they did not...the Iowa Appeals Court blindly hid behind their barbaric HIV statute and failed to recognize the valid science and facts in this case.
I am still angry and very upset for Nick, but I know he will get through this. I hear he has been able to raise enough money to move out of the state and start a new life.
I am also really angry at some of the down right mean comments I've been reading to the coverage of this case...but I guess there will always be those closeted fear mongers sharing their stupid opinions on everything
All in all, this case confirms EXACTLY what many HIV advocates and Public Health officials have been saying for a very long time... HIV Criminalization is causing real harm to public health...
Let me explain...I spoke to a blog writer just yesterday and I asked him this question...
"What "good" comes from prosecuting a person with HIV for just being HIV + ?"
Think about the question...What does the public get from prosecuting and incarcerating a person for having HIV?
Let me expand on on my question...Unlike any other "criminal statute the element of intent is not found...Every other criminal charge in this country has to prove some element of intent.
Take Nick's case...there was no litigation that he maliciously, with intent, infected a person with HIV.
Nick's case is about not telling a person you have consensual sex with that you have a virus...
He used a condom during intercourse and there is no orgasm during oral sex. So no exposure as defined by the worlds medical community occurred
So, the facts say that he DID NOT expose or infect anyone...but because he didn't say 3 words, "I am HIV +" he is now a convicted felon and sex offender! Are you serious?
Nick is still HIV +. He is healthy and undetectable. No person was ever harmed by Nick Rhoades.
SO what did we all get from this "successful" prosecution?
All of the science and public health data tells us that HIV today is still, for the large majority, transmitted by the unknowing, untested population around the world...
Sadly, there have been a few very sick individuals that have maliciously and with intent infected people...
Those are the people the law should go after, but NOT because of the virus, but rather for their ACT!
When are we going to stop criminalizing sex?
HIV is not the crime.
Having SEX is not a crime.
The real crime is the wrongful prosecution and waste of public resources prosecuting these cases.
I invite you to read and educate yourself on HIV at The SERO Project http://seroproject.com/
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