Full Text of SR0986 100th General Assembly
SR0986 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The American Red Cross says that every two seconds | 3 | | someone in the United States needs blood; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, Recent natural disasters, like Hurricanes Harvey | 5 | | and Irma, and human-caused tragedies, such as the mass shooting | 6 | | in Las Vegas, highlight the importance of blood donations to | 7 | | help save lives; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, While an estimated 45.4 percent of men (54 | 9 | | million) in the United States are eligible to donate blood, | 10 | | only 8.7 percent of eligible men actually do; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Since 1983, the United States Food and Drug | 12 | | Administration (FDA), an agency under the United States | 13 | | Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has prohibited | 14 | | the donation of blood by any man who has had sex with another | 15 | | man (MSM) at any time since 1977; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, In December 2015, based on recommendations from | 17 | | the HHS Advisory Committee on Blood and Tissue Safety and | 18 | | Availability, the FDA promulgated revised regulations to allow | 19 | | an MSM to donate blood only if he had not been sexually active | 20 | | for the past 12 months; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Despite these recent steps toward a policy change, | 2 | | a double standard still exists under the policy as revised | 3 | | because it still treats gay and bisexual men differently from | 4 | | heterosexual men; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Illinois law prohibits discrimination against | 6 | | individuals on the basis of actual or perceived sex, sexual | 7 | | orientation, and gender identity; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, A 12-month deferral policy for gay and bisexual | 9 | | men to donate blood is overly stringent given the scientific | 10 | | evidence, advanced testing methods, and the safety and quality | 11 | | control measure in place within the different FDA-qualified | 12 | | blood donation centers; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, The American Public Health Association (APHA) has | 14 | | stated that no specific scientific rationale exists to justify | 15 | | a 12-month deferral policy; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, Furthermore, the APHA's Executive Director wrote: | 17 | | "Instead of protecting and enhancing the nation's blood supply, | 18 | | a 12-month deferral represents a missed opportunity to save the | 19 | | lives of people in need of blood"; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, The Williams Institute of the University of | 21 | | California at Los Angeles School of Law estimates that, based |
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| 1 | | on the population of eligible and likely donors among the MSM | 2 | | community, lifting the federal lifetime deferral policy on | 3 | | blood donation by an MSM would result in 4.2 million newly | 4 | | eligible male donors, of which 360,600 would likely donate, | 5 | | generating 615,300 additional pints of blood; therefore, be it
| 6 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL | 7 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the President | 8 | | of the United States and the Secretary of the United States | 9 | | Department of Health and Human Services to adopt policies to | 10 | | repeal the current discriminatory donor suitability policies | 11 | | of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) | 12 | | regarding blood donations by men who have had sex with another | 13 | | man and, instead, direct the FDA to develop science-based | 14 | | policies, such as criteria based on behavior and not a donor's | 15 | | sexual orientation; and be it further
| 16 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 17 | | delivered to the President and Vice President of the United | 18 | | States, to the Secretary of the United States Department of | 19 | | Health and Human Services, to the Speaker of the United States | 20 | | House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the United | 21 | | States Senate, and to each United States Senator and | 22 | | Representative from Illinois in the Congress of the United | 23 | | States.
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