Blood donation in progress. (Sarah Ladd/Kentucky Lantern)
Since 2000, Indiana has arrested 18 Hoosiers with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) on charges of donating plasma, according to a report released this week. None were charged under provisions penalizing actual transmission.
But sixteen were convicted of at least one HIV-related crime. That’s more than were documented in 13 other states examined in previous studies, per the report.
Researchers with the University of California at Los Angeles Law School’s Williams Institute collaborated with Indiana’s HIV Modernization Movement to produce the 29-page study.
They’re pushing the lawmakers to ditch the bans.
“There has not been a reported case of HIV transmission from plasma donation in the U.S. in nearly 40 years. Yet, as recently as 2019, Indiana arrested, prosecuted, and convicted a person for attempting to donate plasma,” lead author Nathan Cisneros said in a news release Monday.
“Ending the HIV epidemic requires modernizing state HIV criminal laws to reflect what is known about HIV science today,” Cisneros continued. He directs the institute’s HIV Criminalization Project.