Iowa Lawmaker Trying to Change HIV Transmission Law

A few months ago, I received a copy of Impact magazine, which is put out by Lambda Legal. That particular issue shared the details of Nick Rhoades V. State of Iowa. Titled "Arrested for Safe Sex", the article spoke about an otherwise healthy HIV-positive man named Nick Rhoades whose medication compliance and healthy lifestyle made his viral load medically undetectable. He had sex -- wearing a condom -- with another man, but didn't tell that man that he is HIV-positive. The man later found out and reported Rhoades to the police. Despite the fact that they practiced safer sex and that his sex partner did not acquire the disease, Rhoades was convicted of "criminal transmission" of HIV and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Lambda Legal helped Rhoades appeal this decision before the Iowa Supreme Court. His prison sentence got reduced to time served followed by five months of probation. However, Rhoades still remains on Iowa's sex offender registry. Lambda Legal and Rhoades are now trying to get him off of the sex offender registry.

I was reminded of Nick Rhoades' situation when I read the following article on the KCRG website earlier this morning. KCRG reports that Des Moines Democratic Senator Matt McCoy plans to introduce legislation that would reduce penalties for HIV-positive individuals who have sex with others without disclosing their status:

McCoy wants to change the law so someone convicted of intentional or attempted transmission of the virus could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison and face a $750 to $7,500 fine. That would put HIV in the same criminal category as transmitting any other communicable disease, such as Hepatitis C. McCoy also wants to end a requirement that people convicted must be placed on a sex offender registry for life.

The Legislature unanimously approved the current law in 1998. The law was approved, in part, as a reaction to a 1996 case in New York where a man intentionally infected 13 women and girls with HIV...

The proposed changes to the law would take into account whether an HIV-positive person took steps to prevent transmission of the disease, such as using a condom and taking medication that makes it less likely that a sexual partner would be infected. Medications have dramatically improved over the decades, and with proper treatment HIV-positive people can greatly reduce the amount of virus in their blood and make transmission of the disease unlikely.

McCoy has the support of the Iowa Department of Public Health, health care professionals, HIV/AIDS advocacy groups, law enforcement agencies, and the Iowa attorney general's office. Hopefully, this will bolster his efforts to get this law changed.

KCRG notes the 25 people have been convicted along with Nick Rhoades of criminal transmission of HIV/AIDS. Only two of those individuals actually infected their partners with HIV.