Arkansas Modernize HIV & Justice Coalition
Modernizing HIV Laws. Advancing Health & Justice.
We are a statewide coalition of advocates, providers, faith, and community leaders working to update Arkansas’s HIV laws to reflect modern science, reduce stigma, and improve health outcomes for everyone.
Science has changed.
HIV is preventable and treatable. With treatment, people living with HIV can become undetectable and can’t transmit sexually (U=U).
Law hasn’t kept up.
Arkansas’s core HIV criminal statute dates to the late 1980s and can impose severe penalties—even without transmission and even when prevention is used.
Modernize to save lives.
Updating the law reduces stigma, encourages testing and treatment, and aligns Arkansas with evidence-based public health.
What This Coalition Does
- Advance policy that aligns with modern HIV science and public-health best practices.
- Educate lawmakers, media, and communities about U=U, PrEP/PEP, and the harms of outdated criminalization.
- Center racial justice by addressing disproportionate enforcement impacting Black Arkansans and other marginalized groups.
- Build a statewide network of advocates: people with lived experience, providers, legal experts, faith leaders, and allies.
- Promote access to prevention and care through partnerships, outreach, and storytelling.
Why Modernization Matters
- Outdated penalties drive testing and care underground—hurting public health.
- Treatment (U=U) and prevention (PrEP/PEP) dramatically reduce transmission risk.
- Modernized laws in other states have improved health outcomes and reduced stigma.
