No longer a felony to knowingly pass on HIV in ND; healthcare professionals weigh in

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - It’s no longer a felony to knowingly transfer body fluid that could contain HIV to someone else in North Dakota.

Sponsors for the bill say it’s discriminatory to make passing one specific disease a felony. For other diseases, it’s a misdemeanor. Health professionals say the medicine we have now can keep patients from passing the virus on to someone else.

“If we’re punishing people when they know their status, that discourages testing and treatment, and that doesn’t necessarily make us safer. It actually does the opposite,” said Lindsey VanderBusch, Director of the Division of Sexually Transmitted and Bloodborne Disease at North Dakota Health and Human Services.

She says other laws could be used to prosecute those who do try to pass infections on with ill intent.