Illinois Gets Tough AIDS Laws

Gov. James R. Thompson on Monday approved a sweeping set of AIDS laws that would permit health officials to trace victims’ sex partners, require tests for couples wishing to marry and give the state limited power to quarantine victims.

In addition, the package requires schools to teach youngsters in grades 6 through 12 about sexual abstinence. But Thompson, saying he was trying to craft a balanced policy, vetoed measures requiring AIDS tests for prisoners and hospital patients between ages 13 and 55.

Safeguards against disclosure of AIDS test results were strengthened, but another part of the package requires that principals be notified about the presence of a student with AIDS in school.

Health officials may get a court order to quarantine AIDS patients only when there is “clear and convincing evidence the public welfare is significantly endangered.”

The legislation says also:

--A judge may order that some people convicted of sex offenses or narcotics-related crimes be tested for AIDS.

--Hospitals must allow patients to designate blood donors of their choice.

--People making reports of sexually transmittable diseases in good faith are protected from civil and criminal liability; people who knowingly spread false information are subject to prosecution.