Is it against the law to knowingly have an STD and have several sexual partners?

I haven’t an answer for you, unfortunately.
I am interested, however.
I’m in the same boat as you.

I heard it was, If it’s done continuosly. It’s recklessness or something of the sort?

I don’t know if it is a crime, but it is morally wrong in my opinion.

I do not believe it is currently against the law to have an STD and have several sexual partners. Depending on which STDs this person has, yes it is in her best interest to a) treat them b) protect herself and her partners.

Sounds like she’s exhibiting symptoms of the advanced stages of syphilis to me. CRAZY.
Call the white coats with the straight jacket. Quick.

yes it is, something like AID/ HIV a person could be sent to jail, if records show that they were aware that they were infected and they did not tell their partner.

We had a case around here where one HIV-carrying high schooler (who knew of his affliction) went around chasing all of the tail that he could, and the police did eventually get involved.

Someone just won a law suit suing a guy for giving her an STD. I think it was HPV? And, I think the law suit is ridiculous, yet she won. I can’t remember which state it was in.

HIV, is basically assault with a deadly weapon, I think you can be in big trouble,

You say three sexually transmitted diseases. All viral? The bacterial ones are usually treated and gone.

I believe that if someone has an STD that is fatal such as HIV and it can be proved that person didn’t tell a sexual partner that s/he is infected and the sex was unprotected, then the person who got the STD may have a case. I think that if someone dies of AIDS gotten from an unwitting sexual encounter, then that person can be charged with manslaughter, but I am not sure about this.

It varies from state to state and varies between criminal liability and civil liability, and what the STD is, with HIV/AIDs being often fatal, it is a more serious issue. This looks like a pretty good summary/outline of the statutes of the different states regarding this. I don’t know what the laws are outside the U.S.

@lillycoyote good info. Six states rely on existing STD laws and 17 states have neither HIV nor STD laws and instead rely on general criminal laws. However, HIV does not always fit easily within the scope of general criminal laws. For example, assault is generally defined in the law as an unwanted touching, and is poorly suited to the consensual nature of the behaviors that can result in exposure to HIV.

There are no federal laws on HIV exposure, but Congress has provided explicit support for such efforts at the state level. In 1990, the Ryan White CARE Act, which provides states funds for AIDS treatment and care, required every state to certify that its criminal laws were “adequate to prosecute any HIV infected individual” who knowingly exposes a person to HIV. (The requirement was removed in 2000 after all states had certified that they had such laws.

States have taken three general approaches to making HIV exposure by a person who knows they are HIV+ a crime: 1) Adopt HIV-specific laws; 2) Rely on existing STD laws; and 3) Use general criminal statutes such as assault or reckless endangerment.

http://www.caps.ucsf.edu/pubs/FS/criminalization.php#4

What I mean by STD’s are the ones she’s dealt with chlamydia, gonorrhea, and herpes. I know herpes last a life time but one of the other ones made her sterile. She can never have children. I personally think it’s wrong to continuously find one night stands just to get a sex fix with a permanent STD like herpes. She hates it when it flares up on her.

@hnhall32 Many people have herpes and are able to have safe sex. As long as you don’t have sex during flare ups and possibly take medication to prevent transmission, it’s not an issue. May I ask, as well, if this question is intended to learn how to help your friend or just judge her?

She’s someone close to me and I’m thinking of the men she’s having sex with. If I had something concrete that I could tell her then maybe it would make her think twice about what she’s doing.

She is endangering herself by acting in this unsafe manor. You never know how angry someone could get by getting a disease from her and take it out on her by harming her physically. Especially if she is sleeping with married men and passing it on to the men and their wives, possibly making other women sterile.

@hnhall32 Chlamydia and ghonorrhea are treatable, and if she took the meds she is no longer contagious, and no need for her to tell anyone. Herpes is a different story, but usually only contagious during an outbreak, but there is information of it being contagious without an outbreak. She most likely can have kids with IVF. The scarring is just around her tubes most likely.

I’m not sure but there was a woman on Oprah who sued her husband for giving her HIV (but that may have been because he was cheating on her, so the law suit may have been indirectly related)

These are really some great answers! Thanks everyone! I guess I really don’t think she should be permiscuous considering what she’s been through and what she can put someone else through. I wish she couldve had children but she has never been that lucky. I remember she told me she got something from a guy that she had sex with. She said he smelled and just thought that he needed a shower. It ruined her for life. That’s why I tell my son to be careful to not get something on him that he can’t wash off.

@hnhall32 Unfortunately, merely telling your son “to be careful to not get something on him that he can’t wash off” is woefully insufficient information and counsel/advice to protect him from potentially fatal and/or life changing STDs. What he can’t see and therefore can’t “wash off” most certainly can hurt him.

@hnhall32 STD’s happen way more often than people realize or admit. I know people who have slept with only 5 people and have had 4 STD’s. It sucks. Wear a condom. Even a condom doesn’t protect you from everything. I think the stat for HPV in women is something like 80% of women have been exposed.

And abstinance which I believe in 100% works. Thankfully my son has only had a couple of sexual encounters and nothing bad has happened. I’m very open with my kids about what to be careful about and I get very concerned about him going on dates. I’m hoping when he’s an adult he will have learned from me what to be careful about. But the question wasn’t about him though.

@noelleptc LOL, this is hilarious.Im sticking to my original answer, ‘syphilis’.

@hnhall32 Your son knows no such thing. How do you think women get the HPV? Although, the younger generation is getting vaccinated for some of the cancer causing strains of HPV. Many men are assymptomatic for trich and chlamydia, they have no idea they have it, and are giving it to other people.

When people are very abstinence oriented, I worry they have no clue what their kids are doing, but of course that does not apply to everyone, maybe you really do know the truth about your sons sexual life.

Even if people are abstinent till marriage, if their parter has had sex, all that is out the window, unless they have been lucky, or used condoms religiously. Except, as I said, there is a vaccine for some HPV now.

In my opinion condoms are closer to 100% than abstinence, because most people have sex. I rather they be prepared, know the facts.

My son does know such a thing, thank you! @JLeslie . I am very close to my kids and I know the girls. He has been abstinant for quite sometime now and the girls have moved on. My main question though was about people having STD’s or a STD and willingly knowingly having sex with multiple partners, and is it a crime?

@hnhall32 Basically no men know whether they are carrying HPV. But, you are right, back to the main question…

@JLeslie . thanks for the insight.

It comes down to the state level

In NY the law says that a person has a duty to warn about an STD because it assumes you wouldn’t have sex if you knew about it (which may or may not be true). So a person not warning you and transmitting an STD is guilty of battery.

In Mass a person could be sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress if the person knowingly lies about not having an STD.

CA law says “any person afflicted with any contagious, infectious, or communicable disease who willfully exposes him/herself to another person is guilty of a misdemeanor.”

However then you have other states like Tennessee where you can sue if someone gives you an STD, but you’ll have to pass a three-part test:

1) You could not have known, or have had reason to know, that the person had an STD.
2) The person who gave you the STD knew, or should have known, they had an STD.
3) You have to prove you didn’t get the STD from somewhere else, which means you’ll be discussing your entire sexual history in court.

@mrlaconic Perfect answer! Where can I get that info for california?

@hnhall32 Cal. Health and Safety Code 120290 states: any person afflicted with any contagious, infectious, or communicable disease who willfully exposes him/herself to another person is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Thanks I’m doing some research now myself. Thanks for the info.

Okay I found it online. @mrlaconic

If it isn’t it should be.

If its something incurable, maybe. If its HIV, definitely if she’s infecting people. Do what @mrlaconic says and take care of this community health risk.

Another thing to consider is that your friend is also putting herself at (further) risk if she’s having unprotected sex. It’s not like she couldn’t get something new, or get the same STI again after being treated.

Not against the law, but it’s unbelievably thoughtless and stupid.

The law is based on criminal intent. knowingly spreading any communicable disease, can be considered criminal intent, especially HIV, under the right circustances.

Here is the lawsuits I spoke of. The woman won $1.5 million. I don’t see how she won. But, it seems the supreme court of Iowa is going to let the verdict stick for now. The woman was 23 and didn’t know about HPV, that you basically catch cancer from your boyfriend. And, as I said above the amjority of Americans are exposed to one strain or another. That is a huge flipping failure of our education system, and our surgeon general. The man who was sued sounds not too swift either.

no matter he has std or not, it’s not right if he has several sex partners at the same time.Honestly, I’m living with HIV positive for 2 years. I was upset and think my sex life was over.

Later I found Positivemate.com. This site was created to help people find useful, up-to-date information about prevention and cure for herpes, HPV, HIV, find safe dating with STDs. I know there are currently 33 million people living with HIV in the world. Some don’t even know that they have them.

If it’s not a crime then it should be, I know a guy who knows he has a couple of STI’s including genital herpes. He doesn’t care cause he has no respect for the women he has sex with, he knows he is spreading something that cannot be cured and he still has unprotected sex and does not pull out he also “think” he may have a child. People like this should be sterilized and given medication to stop their libido if they can’t do it safely then they shouldn’t be able to do it, guys should be carstrated remove the lot and a similar consequence for women who knowingly spread STI’s. A bit harsh and not reversible but think of what ey are doing these conditions are painful and can be life threatening so if they do it and get caught then chop it off so ey cannot do it anymore. Oh by the way I am a guy and luckily STI free but with people like BR we are all at risk in my opinion they are the most evil people around.

Yes. But it depends on which ones like HIV / AIDS or herpes it is definitely against the law to have unprotected sex with someone and knowingly infecting them. I’m not so sure about the other STD’S…