Indiana has six laws that criminalize people living with HIV (PLWH), including two laws that make it a felony to donate blood, plasma, and semen for artificial insemination if a person knows they have HIV.
A new report by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finds that at least 18 people in Indiana were charged with 21 violations of the state’s HIV-related criminal donation law between 2001 and 2023. All of the arrests stemmed from an attempt to donate at a plasma center.
Indiana’s HIV-related donation laws disproportionately impact Black people, and Black men in particular. Black people make up 10% of Indiana’s population, 38% of PLWH, and 78% of HIV-related donation arrests. Black men account for 5% of the state’s population and 26% of PLWH. However, they make up 61% of arrests for violating the state’s HIV-related blood donation law.
Indiana’s HIV-related donation laws were enacted in the late 1980s before effective and easily accessible testing and treatment for HIV was available. Universal screening for HIV has made donated blood, plasma, and semen safe from HIV. Furthermore, plasma center donations are heat treated, which inactivates bloodborne viruses, including HIV.
Researchers analyzed data obtained from the Indiana Office of Court Services, online court-tracking tools, and Probable Cause Affidavits filed with the county court clerks in the jurisdictions where a criminal case was filed to examine the enforcement of Indiana’s donation laws.
Findings show that the majority of donation-related arrests (78%) happened in Marion County, home to Indianapolis, the state capital and largest city.
“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,” said lead author Nathan Cisneros, HIV Criminalization Project Director at the Williams Institute. “Ending the HIV epidemic requires modernizing state HIV criminal laws to reflect what is known about HIV science today.”
Key Findings
- No case involved attempts to donate whole blood or semen; every arrest and prosecution was for alleged plasma donation.
- There were no allegations of actual transmission or intent to transmit HIV.
- Nearly all people accused were found indigent and assigned a public defender.
- The age range at the time of arrest was between 20 and 58, with an average age of 33.
- Men were 72% of people arrested while women were 28%.
- More than four-fifths (89%) of people arrested were convicted of at least one HIV-related crime.
HIV criminalization is a term used to describe laws that either criminalize otherwise legal conduct or increase the penalties for illegal conduct based on a person’s HIV-positive status. More than half of U.S. states and territories have HIV-specific criminal laws. However, since 2017, a dozen states have undertaken modernization or repeal.