A decision by a Kane County judge to tell the public that an Elgin prostitute is infected with the AIDS virus was welcomed Tuesday by law-enforcement officials but questioned by a civil rights attorney, who warns that the ruling may backfire.
Judge Wiley Edmondson`s action Monday, believed to be the first time an Illinois judge has made public the results of a prostitute`s test for HIV antibodies, was intended as a deterrent to those who might solicit
prostitution.
But on Monday, according to news wire reports, a suit was filed in Downstate Illinois challenging publication of the name of a person forced to take an HIV test. The suit asserts, according to the Associated Press, that state law prohibits publicly identifying such persons.
And John Hammell of the American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday that the ruling could actually do more harm than good.
”That sort of order, on balance, probably harms the public health and is an unnecessary infringement on the woman`s constitutional rights,” Hammell said. ”It`s going to deter people from coming forward to public health clinics because they see the government is letting this information out.”
Edmondson, who sits in the Elgin Branch of the 16th Circuit, said his reasoning behind releasing the woman`s test results was twofold.
”Members of the public who may otherwise engage in the crime of prostitution with defendant will be deterred from such unlawful folly if they learn defendant is HIV positive,” the judge wrote.
And the disclosure could help those who already had sex with the prostitute, Edmondson said. ”If the defendant had AIDS, the peril of these individuals and to their wives or others with whom they engage in sexual relations is grave.”
Although it is possible for someone to be infected with the AIDS virus from only one unprotected sexual encounter with an HIV carrier, studies of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. show that prostitutes have not been a major source of spreading the virus. The reason, studies suggest, is that most prostitutes insist that their clients use condoms.
Nonetheless, Deputy Chief Warren Danielson of the Elgin police predicted that Edmondson`s ruling will have an impact beyond this specific case.
”The hope is that potential clients of prostitutes will give thought to whom they`re getting involved with . . . and that this will deter someone from going to any prostitute,” Danielson said.
Kane County State`s Atty. Gary Johnson argued in court that public safety was at issue. ”When this woman is endangering the public, the public has a right to know,” he said.
Illinois law requires AIDS tests for people convicted of any of 13 different crimes, but it gives judges the right to decide who may see those results.
According to court records, the 20-year-old woman has been convicted of prostitution seven times over 18 months. She is now in Kane County Jail, serving a 5-month sentence that ends Nov. 11.
