jsscuban #fundie community.babycenter.com

Okay, now for a serious debate.

Here are a couple stories of people who have been tried, convicted and sentenced to jail for having unprotected sex without disclosing the fact that they are HIV positive.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/in_focus&id=7021651

http://www.themorningsun.com/articles/2010/08/13/news/doc4c6438c517507243537084.txt

Is this a good idea? Shouldn't the onus to have safe sex fall on both parties, not just the HIV partner? Does this have the potential for serious misuse?

[ It's a crime if a company knowingly exposes their employees to a dangerous substance like asbestos and it makes them sick. I don't see this as any different. ]

Because in the case of unprotected sex, you are knowingly taking a risk by having unprotected sex. It's not the same as going to work without a gas mask on because you believe your employer when they say there is no asbestos. Even if your partner says they are clean, you still know there is a risk they are not

[ But as a participant in consensual sex you have a right to know if you are going to be exposed to a deadly disease. If a person knows that they are HIV positive then they have an obligation to inform potential sexual partners. The failure to do so is at the very least deception and at the very worst homicide ]

You also have a responsibility to protect yourself through any and all means. I meet a guy at the bar, he says he's clean, so I have unprotected sex with him? Getting an STD wouldn't be even a little bit my fault?

But where do we draw the line? HPV is also a potentially deadly STD. If a man gives me HPV and I get cervical cancer, is he criminally liable?

[ Well maybe if you know for a fact that you have an STD of any kind you should lay this information out on the table before having sex, or you are liable. ]

So are the courts going to start fining frat boys for giving girls crabs? What about if I have the flu, but I go to the store to buy medicine and inadvertently infect a baby, who gets seriously ill. Should I be held criminally liable for that? I knowingly took my germs in public.

Seriously, responsibility for safe sex is a two way street.

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