Both are shifting to a model that uses an individual risk assessment that considers at-risk behavior rather than excluding men solely on the basis of their sexual orientation.
Other Countries Have Removed Restrictions Around Gay Men and Blood DonationĬanada and Israel have changed their policies around blood donation for men who have sex with men in the last year. Many lawmakers are also petitioning the agency, including Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), and Katie Porter (D-Calif.) who all signed a letter to the FDA asking the agency to reassess the policy. “The current policy is outdated, does not reflect the state of the science, and continues to unfairly stigmatize one segment of society.” This is a crisis that can in part be addressed by modernizing the Food and Drug Administration’s discriminatory policy that bans men who have sex with men from donating blood,” said Joni Madison, interim president of the HRC, in a statement. “We are facing a national blood shortage. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, has continued to push the FDA to remove the ban. blood collection organizations must follow this federal requirement, including the Red Cross, although the organization states that it does not believe that blood donation eligibility should be determined by sexual orientation. Critics Say Current Policy Is Unnecessary and OutdatedĪll U.S.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC), all donated blood products are tested for HIV, as well as other pathogens such as syphilis, hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus. The technology for screening donated blood has advanced since the original ban. If the FDA were to remove the three-month restriction, the annual blood supply would increase by 2 to 4 percent annually, according to the Williams Institute, a think tank at the UCLA School of Law in California. In April 2020, that was shortened to three months.
CAN GAY MEN DONATE BLOOD IN US FULL
In 2015, the ban was revised so that a man had to abstain from having sex with another man for a full year to donate blood. The ban started in 1985 - at that time, blood banks had limited abilities to test blood products, and so the FDA banned donations from several groups who were found to have higher rates of HIV, including gay men - and at that time, the ban was for life. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to change their current policy on gay men and blood donation, which currently requires men who have sex with men to abstain from sex for three months prior to blood donation. The dire state of blood donations have prompted renewed calls for the U.S. Changing Blood Donations Restrictions for Gay Men Would Increase Blood Supply Up to 100 units of blood can be required to save a single car accident victim. Blood transfusions are an essential part of treatment for diseases such as sickle cell disease, as well as for many people undergoing cancer treatment. “Please, if you are eligible, make an appointment to give blood or platelets in the days and weeks ahead to ensure no patient is forced to wait for critical care.” Blood Donation Saves LivesĪlthough close to seven million people in the United States donate blood, that’s only about 3 percent of eligible people.Įvery 2 seconds, someone in the United States needs blood or platelets, according to the American Red Cross. “Winter weather across the country and the recent surge of COVID-19 cases are compounding the already-dire situation facing the blood supply,” said Baia Lasky, MD, medical director for the Red Cross, in a release. On January 18, a week after the crisis was declared, the blood supply fell even lower as more than 200 blood drives across the country were cancelled due to winter storms, resulting in nearly 6,500 blood and platelet donations to go uncollected, according to a statement. The omicron surge and winter weather are being blamed for a blood shortage in the United States, causing the American Red Cross to declare a national blood donation crisis for the first time in the organization’s history.