OTTAWA
Since 1998, not revealing an HIV status to a partners before intimacy is a serious criminal offence, failure to disclose could lead to a conviction of aggravated sexual assault, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. But in a ruling last week, the Supreme Court made a slight change taking into account medical advancements that has made an AIDS diagnosis no longer a death sentence. Under some circumstances, an HIV infected person could be excused for withholding this piece of news from his partner.
If people with HIV have taken antiretroviral therapy that reduces their “viral load” of HIV to what physicians consider a“low load,” and they wear a condom, they no longer have to tell their partners that they are infected. That’s because “the ultimate percentage risk of transmission resulting from the combined effect of condom use and low viral load is clearly extremely low — so low that the risk is reduced to a speculative possibility rather than a realistic possibility,” the court found.
But this ruling has now divided people. On one hand are a significant number of people who believe that one partner has the right to know if the other is HIV regardless of the risks or no risk involved. Other AIDS activists are of the opinion that disclosure results in stigmatizing the HIV infected person which ruins his life because most people have an exaggerated fear of being infected.
But despite the concerns voiced by both sides, this ruling actually goes a long way in balancing public safety while ensuring compassion for those who are being responsible-taking their medication, practicing safe sex and regularly visiting their physician.



I'm not highlighting a single thing. I feel it's too important.
Should people who take the necessary precautions and are taking care of themselves and taking the necessary medication
for HIV be allowed to not disclose their status?

Mind you, the medication and advances in technology for HIV does make the virus extremely hard to pass.

Nope. Don't care about whatever medicine advancements or whatever.

If you have HIV, you need to tell your sexual partner. Let THEM make the decision of whether or not they want to take the risk, no matter how "realistic" or "speculative" it is.

I wouldn't want to be ****ed by someone that could transmit a deadly STD to me they absolutely need to tell you.

Absolutely Not. Even with a condom and antiretroviral therapy, the fact is you are not disclosing you COULD be giving your partner a life threatening STD.

You have HIV you tell who ever you are with.

Should this law be changed or stay the same?
Yes
No

What kind of poll question and options?

Uh, that's ridiculous. I understand the risk of infection is a lot lower but you have to be a pretty **** human being if you don't disclose it with your partner. There's always a chance the condom can break and the person is infected and only the infected can be blamed because they knowingly did not disclose their status.

They have the right to make the decision if they do or don't want to sleep with you even if your viral load is low and you're wearing a condom.

I've been telling people that you must disclose your status to whoever you have sex with. That **** is serious. If you lie and willingly infect someone... Ugh.... But protection should always, ALWAYS be used.

But you guys should understand that once it goes undetectable when taking antiretroviral medicines, it's dormant and it's extremely impossible to transfer especially when the necessary precautions are used.

They even have drugs for a partner to take that completely reduces them for contracting the virus from someone HIV positive

It doesn't matter. The partner has the right to know. It's no different from lying. If you want to say "I have HIV but it's dormant" fine, but the other person deserves to know and they can make the decision if they want to continue or not.

Idk I'm majoring in immunology and HIV is going to be my specialty and it's a serious epidemic but when treated its a done deal. You can live up to 85 and die from a heart attack then HIV.

People are highly misinformed and are stricken with scare tactics from people. It's smart to always be safe but when you research the actual way HIV has progressed now...
They're extremely close to finding a cure for it

I have no doubt that people are misinformed and have the wrong idea. I also know that people can live a long life with HIV before getting AIDS (if at all) but even with all the progress, people still have to take pills (albeit not as many as before) which cause all types of terrible symptoms and side effects.

I just think a partner should disclose that kind of information regardless. No one wants to live a life with HIV even with all the progress in medicine. If anything, it's more of an inconvenience these days but still, people should have the right to know before and decide if that's a risk they want to take.

That's the law here in the United Kingdom England and Wales. Strange, huh?

Of course not.

Don't think this just happened and you got HIV by accident, you brought it all on yourself with unsafe sex.

There's no "buts" in this. I don't care, and neither do anyone else. It's a person's civil right to be informed about the status of a potential HIV-positive partner. I was lied to by a poz person before, trying to tell me he was allergic to condoms. I trusted my instinct and then later found out the fact he WAS positive. Not cool dude. Who even knows if they're on the medications, or have been taking them regularly?

Just stop.

Making HIV positive people feel less like outcasts is not as important as completely eradicating this virus. People don't take it seriously at all anymore. It's very worrying. Who wants to be on pills for the rest of their life?

If you know you have it, tell your partner. Pretty simple. Explain the massive decrease in risk of transmission with proper precautions and they may be fine with it.