Published January, 2012
Iowa Department of Public Health, Discussion of Revisions to Iowa Code 709C – Criminal Transmission of HIV (2012)
The Iowa State Department of Health released this path-breaking discussion piece on the rationale for changing Iowa Code 709C, the state's law on criminalizing so-called "exposure" to the bodily fluids of persons with HIV. The paper summarizes Iowa Code 709C, and succinctly catologues recent policy developments (e.g., the issuance of a National HIV/AIDS Strategy that, in part, calls for an examination of state criminal laws to determine whether they reflect current knowledge of HIV), current research that finds no evidence of benefit from these laws, the negative impact of laws such as Iowa's, principles that should guide modernization of Iowa's statute, and several options for amending the law.
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