HIV Laws and Sexual Behavior

Abstract

Welcome to Public Health Moment from the University of Minnesota. Thirty-two states have laws that make it a crime to transmit HIV to other individuals. But have these laws, many of them on the books for more than 20 years, effectively reduced high-risk sexual behavior? No, according to a new study involving more than 1,700 men. The study was led by Keith Horvath, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota. <Horvath: “Probably the most interesting finding from our study was that we found that regardless of people’s attitudes toward these laws, that their risk behavior didn’t change – at all. So, there were no significant differences in their sexual risk behavior, whether or not they thought it should be illegal or not.”> Horvath next wants to look at whether these laws might actually be counter productive to prevention efforts. <Horvath: “The research generally shows that the laws don’t have any effect on risk behavior, but what we don’t know is whether or not these laws might actually act as barriers for getting tested for HIV or whether these laws might act as barriers to disclosure of HIV status – or even accessing appropriate care. So, I think that is the next step in where we need to go with this line of research.”> For Public Health Moment, I’m Mark Engebretson