Ontario Limits Criminal Prosecutions For HIV Non-Disclosure

Good news for people with undetectable viral loads…
 
Ontario says it will be restricting criminal prosecutions of HIV- positive people who do not disclose their status to sexual partners. The decision comes after the federal government released a report stating that a growing body of evidence shows there is no realistic possibility that an HIV-positive person could transmit HIV if they are on antiretroviral therapy and has have a suppressed viral load for six months.
 
Until now, a person who is HIV-positive in Ontario could be charged with aggravated sexual assault—one of the most serious crimes under Canadian law—for not disclosing their status before having sex, and be registered permanently on the sex offender registry, even if their partner didn’t contract HIV. An HIV-positive person would have had to both wear a condom and have a suppressed viral load to avoid prosecution for non-disclosure.
 
The province’s attorney general and health minister announced that going forward, Ontario Crown attorneys will no longer be pursuing criminal cases against people who have had a suppressed viral load for six months or more.
 
Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi and Health Minister Eric Hoskins have said in recent years that medical treatment for HIV has advanced significantly to the point that it can be a chronic but manageable condition, and the province’s laws should reflect that.