Another Fine Mess

Tuesday November 18, 2008

In general, I'm not a big fan of legal punishment for people engaged in consensual sexual behavior. Cases like this one, where an HIV positive man went against a court order not to have unprotected sex, do make me somewhat question my belief. Still, I don't think I'll ever be convinced that legal measures are the best way to curb the STD epidemic. I'd rather encourage regular screening and reminders that people who choose to have sex without a condom are doing so at their own risk. Does it make someone a bad person to intentionally expose their sexual partner to a preventable disease without informing them they're taking a risk? Probably. Does it make them a criminal? I don't know. Saying yes seems like it would be more likely to encourage people not to get tested than to encourage them to practice safer sex. After all, a person who doesn't know they're infected with HIV can't be blamed for not telling their partner... What do you think?