State Criminal Statutes on HIV Transmission

I began thinking about this because of the case that came down in Iowa today affirming a man's prison sentence for having sex without informing his partners that he had tested positive for HIV. I see all kinds of scary policy implications in making this criminal behavior, but when I went to look at other states' statutes, I became even more disturbed. Many of the states have steeper penalties for sex workers, which, while unjust, didn't hugely surprise me. The most bizarrely and blatantly unfair statute I read about was from my own state of Pennsylvania, criminalizing certain behaviors only for people already imprisoned or sex workers and their clients. The savages! No penalty for good ol' "regular" folk. WTF?

The following is the language of Pennsylvania's criminal statutes punishing HIV-transmission.

Pa. Stat. Ann. tit. 18, §2703
A person who is confined in any jail, prison or correctional institution is guilty of a felony of the second degree if he, while so confined, intentionally or knowingly causes another to come into contact with blood, seminal fluid, saliva, urine or feces by throwing, tossing, spitting or expelling such fluid or material when, at the time of the offense, the person knew, had reason to know or should have known that such fluid or material was infected with a communicable disease, including HIV.

Pa. Stat. Ann. tit. 18, §2704
If a person sentenced to death or life imprisonment intentionally or knowingly causes another to come into contact with blood, seminal fluid, saliva, urine or feces by throwing, tossing, spitting or expelling such fluid or material when, at the time of the offense, the person knew, had reason to know, or should have known that the fluid or material was infected with a communicable disease, including HIV, then the person is guilty of a crime, the penalty for which shall be the same as the penalty for murder of the second degree.

Pa. Stat. Ann. tit. 18, § 5902
It is a felony in the third degree for a person to engage in prostitution knowing he or she is HIV positive, to promote prostitution of one who is HIV positive, or for a person, knowing him or herself to be HIV positive, to patronize a prostitute.

more on this and other interesting stuff at www.lambdalegal.org