In the United States, to knowingly infect someone with the HIV virus is considered to be illegal. People who do so can often be charged with Criminal Transmission of HIV. Such laws exist in every state of the union.

The laws covers people who knowingly engage in sexual contact with another without their partner knowing that they have HIV. Such laws also cover those who donate biological material – such as blood, tissue, organs, or semen – who have the HIV virus. It can also include those who are infected with HIV who give infected drug paraphernalia to others. The states vary in what exactly constitutes criminal transmission. In some states, criminal transmission of HIV committed in conjunction with another crime, such as rape carries enhanced penalties.

Since 1989, a number of people have been charged for criminally transmitting the virus. One of these was a man who had sexually abused a nine year old child. In another case, an HIV positive man in Dubuque, Iowa was charged with criminal transmission after he had consensual sex with a mentally handicapped woman and exposed her to the virus.

The American Civil Liberties Union has expressed concern that the wording of many of these laws are too vague. A number of people have challenged their convictions on this basis.

Example Statute

This is the Criminal Transmission of HIV from the Iowa Code.

709C.1 Criminal transmission of human immunodeficiency virus.

1. A person commits criminal transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus if the person, knowing that the person's human immunodeficiency virus status is positive, does any of the following:

a. Engages in intimate contact with another person.

b. Transfers, donates, or provides the person's blood, tissue, semen, organs, or other potentially infectious bodily fluids for transfusion, transplantation, insemination, or other administration to another person.

c. Dispenses, delivers, exchanges, sells, or in any other way transfers to another person any nonsterile intravenous or intramuscular drug paraphernalia previously used by the person infected with the human immunodeficiency virus.

2. For the purposes of this section:

a. "Human immunodeficiency virus" means the human immunodeficiency virus identified as the causative agent of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

b. "Intimate contact" means the intentional exposure of the body of one person to a bodily fluid of another person in a manner that could result in the transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus.

c. "Intravenous or intramuscular drug paraphernalia" means any equipment, product, or material of any kind which is peculiar to and marketed for use in injecting a substance into or withdrawing a bodily fluid from the human body.

3. Criminal transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus is a class "B" felony.

4. This section shall not be construed to require that an infection with the human immunodeficiency virus has occurred for a person to have committed criminal transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus.

5. It is an affirmative defense that the person exposed to the human immunodeficiency virus knew that the infected person had a positive human immunodeficiency virus status at the time of the action of exposure, knew that the action of exposure could result in transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus, and consented to the action of exposure with that knowledge.

The above was from the Iowa Legislature's Web Site Section on the Iowa Code.