Attorney General William Tong today joined a 22-state coalition in support of the Biden Administration’s new proposed policy that would make it easier for the LGBTQ population to donate blood and plasma.
The current policy recommends barring gay and bisexual men from donating blood within three months of their most recent sexual contact, regardless of whether they engaged in high-risk behavior. In January this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration introduced new proposed guidance that would abandon the current discriminatory approach and instead use a risk-based analysis for all donors, regardless of gender and sexual orientation.
“This restrictive and outdated policy both stigmatizes members of the LGBTQ community and harms all who rely on an adequate supply of donated blood for life. Adopting this new, science-based policy will both help increase the available blood supply at a time when we’re experiencing historic shortages and end the wrongful discrimination of LGBTQ individuals,” Attorney General Tong said.
According to the American Red Cross, every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood. Blood transfusions and blood products are needed for major surgeries, to treat diseases such as sickle cell anemia and some cancers, and to treat victims injured by accidents, violence, or natural disasters.
In January 2022, the Red Cross declared its first-ever national blood crisis – its worst blood shortage in over a decade. Data indicates that lifting restrictions completely, as compared to a 12-month waiting period, would produce nearly 300,000 pints of additional donated blood annually and could help save the lives of more than a million people.
If the Biden Administration’s new proposed recommendations become final, blood banks in the United States will be urged to discard the previous policy and instead ask all donors, regardless of their actual or perceived gender or sexual orientation, if they have had sex with a new partner or more than one partner in the last three months. Based on their answers, they would either be allowed to donate blood or asked to wait for three months.
In filing today’s comment letter, Attorney General Tong joined the attorneys general of California, Arizona, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.