Showing posts with label NC HIV/AIDS LAWS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NC HIV/AIDS LAWS. Show all posts

Thursday, March 1, 2007

NC HIV/AIDS LAWS - Maria de Bruyn

A colleague from another state recently wrote me about this: “A colleague of mine who lives in North Carolina told me that his Dr contacted the Health Dept. and told them that he was HIV- positive. They contacted him to tell him about NC law (that it is illegal not to disclose before having sex). Then they wanted him to sign an acknowledgement saying that they came and spoke to him and that if he breaks the law he would be prosecuted. When he refused to sign the acknowledgement from the health dept. the official took the acknowledgement to his doctor and the doctor then asked for him to sign.”
The colleague also sent me a brochure about the law in NC, of which, I must admit, I was painfully ignorant.
https://www.law.duke.edu/aidsProject/400_01/NCBarHIVBrochure.pdf

I find this rather shocking; all the responsibility is put on the people living with HIV. If a woman, for example, has a spouse or boyfriend who refuses to use a condom, he could later accuse her of infecting him (even if it was the other way around, he just hadn’t been tested, or had been tested outside NC) and she would be criminalized. This is appalling. Has UNC ever challenged this law or given testimony to the legislature pointing out how the law is in conflict with basic human rights?