Take Action: Stop the Spread of AIDS with Protection and Information

We can help stop the spread of AIDS by informing the public and by promoting the use of condoms.

Stop the Spread of AIDS with Protection and Information

Goal: 15,000 • Progress: 708

Sponsored by: The Hunger Site

What if you were being punished for taking positive steps toward better health and safety? That's what the state of New York is doing by confiscating condoms from sex workers and using them to justify arrest for prostitution.

Counter-intuitive is the word that comes to mind. How can law enforcement truly think they are doing right by society by taking away its protection?

In North Carolina, a non-profit that helps sex workers is dropping condoms into bushes so individuals don't get caught with them. Director Robert Childs says, "It's very strange, in order to promote something that would be beneficial to the greater society, we have to be sneaky."

NY State Bill A1008/S323 would stop police from using possession of condoms as evidence of prostitution. Sign the petition and help Queens Assemblywoman Barbara M. Clark and State Senator Velmanette Montgomery push this important health-saving bill into law.

Dear Queens Assemblywoman Barbara M. Clark and State Senator Velmanette Montgomery:

As you know, almost 10% of female prostitutes in major cities are infected with HIV. Even more shocking, 50% of the world's prostitutes are HIV-positive.

These are disturbing figures, especially considering condoms are highly effective at preventing all types of STDs.

But law enforcement in New York is overlooking this important fact by confiscating condoms in order to prove individuals' involvement in prostitution. Now, sex workers are afraid to carry condoms in fear they might be searched and prosecuted.

Morality aside, no one can argue that condoms are ineffective in preventing STDs. By punishing those wishing to stay safe, law enforcement is simply trading one ill for another.

Please do all you can to see that your proposed legislation becomes law. We can't punish individuals for doing the right thing.

Thank you for continuously taking a stand for public health.