{"id":251231,"date":"2026-07-24T16:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/251231\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T16:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:20:08","slug":"new-pennsylvania-law-will-decriminalize-hiv-felony-charge-in-prostitution-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/251231\/","title":{"rendered":"New Pennsylvania law will decriminalize HIV felony charge in prostitution cases"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHP) \u2014 A new Pennsylvania law will eliminate felony charges for prostitutes who knowingly had HIV at the time. <\/p>\n<p>Rep. Ben Waxman (D-Philadelphia), who co-sponsored the<a href=\"https:\/\/local21news.com\/news\/local\/file:\/\/\/C:\/Users\/swoloson\/AppData\/Local\/Microsoft\/Windows\/INetCache\/Content.Outlook\/KZ47FENJ\/2025-0-SB0045P1791%20(1).PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> legislation<\/a> to change the law, described it as &#8220;outdated&#8221; and &#8220;inhumane.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Today, HIV is a manageable condition that can be treated and controlled with medication,&#8221; Waxman said in a release. &#8220;With a regimen of antiretroviral therapy, people with HIV can live long, productive and healthy lives and reduce transmission. We cannot criminalize anyone for their health status; it\u2019s simply inhumane.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The old law was able to elevate a misdemeanor prostitution charge to a third-degree felony charge. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Decriminalizing HIV helps break the stigma associated with the diagnosis and brings us closer to a legal framework based on science &#8212; not subjective morality,&#8221; Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Philadelphia), who co-sponsored the legislation, said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHP) \u2014 A new Pennsylvania law will eliminate felony charges for prostitutes who knowingly had HIV&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-251231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}