U.S. Reps. Mike Quigley (D-Illinois), Adam Schiff (D-New York), Carolyn Maloney (D-New York), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), Chris Pappas (D-New Hampshire), Barbara Lee (D-New York), Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico) and Katherine Clark (D-Massachusetts) introduced a resolution calling for nondiscriminatory blood donation guidelines.
The resolution calls for the need for policies governing blood and blood-product donation to be grounded in science and based on individual risk factors that do not unfairly single out any group of individuals so that all those who can safely donate are able to do so.
In April, the Food and Drug Administration announced an updated blood donation deferral policy to allow more healthy gay and bisexual men to donate blood. The new policy lowers the 12-month deferral to three months on blood donations for men who have sex with men.
In a statement, Quigley said, “As we saw after the Pulse Nightclub shooting, crises cause us to consider the national blood supply, as everyday Americans step up to help in any way they can. Yet, the reality is that our blood banks too often struggle to meet the need. One important way to reverse this trend is to end the discriminatory, outdated ban on blood donations from men who have sex with men.”