National HIV Organizations Caution that Pennsylvania Ends HIV Discrimination While Deepening Harms to Sex Workers and Survivors
Open letter explains how the bill expands criminalization and calls for reforms that reduce—not redistribute or expand—the reach of the criminal legal system
CHLP, Positive Women’s Network-USA, and the Sero Project released an open letter that examines the recently passed Pennsylvania Senate Bill 45, celebrates the elimination of the HIV sentence enhancement, but calls for a more nuanced understanding of the law’s impact.
Signed into law by Governor Josh Shapiro on July 20, the bill eliminated a discriminatory felony sentence enhancement that applied to sex workers living with HIV in addition to broader changes to Pennsylvania’s laws governing sex work and human trafficking. Our organizations celebrate the repeal of the HIV-specific enhancement, which automatically increased a “prostitution” charge to a felony based solely on a person’s HIV status. Years of organizing by people living with HIV and Pennsylvania advocates helped achieve the removal of this discriminatory statute from the state’s criminal code. SB45 also made “prostitution” a third-degree misdemeanor and rejected a proposed expansion of the statutory definition—changes that may reduce the number of sex workers and trafficking survivors subjected to felony charges.
Unfortunately, SB45 could expand criminalization in other ways. By moving many sex work-related offenses into the human trafficking section of the criminal code, the law further conflates consensual sex work with trafficking and gives the Pennsylvania Attorney General increased authority to prosecute cases alongside local district attorneys. The law also increases penalties for people accused of “promoting” or purchasing sex work, using definitions broad enough to potentially criminalize people who provide transportation, housing, safety supplies, or other forms of support.
CHLP, PWN, and Sero were not involved in developing or negotiating SB45 and did not endorse the legislation. Our letter raises questions about whether people living with HIV, sex workers, trafficking survivors, and organizations led by those directly affected were meaningfully included in the legislative process. It calls for an honest review of how the bill advanced and whether the principles of the Meaningful Involvement of People Living with HIV, or MIPA, were upheld.
The letter concludes that SB45 should not be described as an unqualified victory for HIV decriminalization. While honoring the elimination of the HIV sentence enhancement, we stress that progress for people living with HIV should not be negotiated at the expense of sex workers, trafficking survivors, or other communities targeted by policing and incarceration. It calls on all HIV advocates and organizations to practice principled solidarity, examine who is harmed or excluded by legislative compromises, and ensure that future reforms reduce—not redistribute or expand—the reach of the criminal legal system.
The Pennsylvania HIV Justice Alliance similarly issued a statement expressing disappointment that portions of Pennsylvania's criminal code related to HIV were modified at the expense of sex workers.
