News

 

“More than half of the states do not have a single attorney dedicated to do free legal services for people with HIV,” said Catherine Hanssens, executive director for the Center for HIV Law and Policy in New York. “Getting a private attorney to file an employment discrimination lawsuit is difficult because employment litigation is very expensive. The defense is usually that there were many other reasons to fire you.”

“In light of today’s decision, we believe that additional modifications to the state’s infectious disease law should be considered,” Schottes said. “Great strides were made through the law’s recent amendment, and we are hopeful that today’s decision—acknowledging the effectiveness of various HIV prevention measures—will fuel the Iowa Legislature’s clear desire to bring the state’s law fully up to date.”

 

"The revised Iowa law may have removed the bizarrely harsh, unscientific penalty that Rhoades initially faced, which slapped him with a 25-year prison sentence for theoretically exposing a partner to HIV without actually transmitting the virus. But an HIV-positive person who knows he’s positive and transmits the virus to a partner “with reckless disregard” still faces five years in prison. And an HIV-positive who exposes the virus to a partner—without actually transmitting it—could still be sent to prison for a full year."

 

"The court’s majority opinion written by Justice David Wiggins concluded intimate contact between Rhoades and the man he had sex with does not establish the necessary factual basis that an exchange of bodily fluid took place or that Rhoades intentionally exposed his partner in a way that could have transmitted HIV."