This week, Gov. Kelly Armstrong signed into law House Bill 1217, legislation to reform North Dakota’s outdated laws that unfairly criminalized and stigmatized people living with HIV. North Dakota is the fourth state in the country to fully repeal HIV criminalization laws and the first state in the Midwest to do so, according to the ACLU of North Dakota.

“Laws that criminalize living with HIV fundamentally undermine the constitutional rights and dignity of individuals by penalizing them for a health condition rather than any criminal behavior.” said Cody Schuler, ACLU of North Dakota advocacy manager, in a news release. “We are happy that North Dakota’s laws will now become more fair, less discriminatory and will promote treatment and prevention rather than criminalization. This is a huge step forward in reducing stigma, increasing HIV testing and humanizing those living with HIV.”

In the late 1980s and ’90s at the height of the HIV epidemic, lawmakers throughout the country passed laws that criminalized otherwise legal behaviors of people living with HIV or added HIV-related penalties to existing crimes, according to the ACLU.

These laws were based on fear and the limited medical understanding of the time, the news release stated. When most of these laws were passed, there were no effective treatments for HIV and discrimination against people living with HIV was rampant. Research now demonstrates that people living with HIV on effective treatment cannot transmit the virus to their partners. And HIV-negative individuals can take medication to reduce the risk of acquiring HIV by up to 99%.