Baldwin Statement on New FDA Guidance on Gay Men Blood Donation

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin released the following statement after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released draft guidance  that lifts the lifetime ban on blood donation for gay men and proposes a policy requiring a year of abstinence prior to donating blood. The public will have 60 days to comment on the draft policy, and the FDA will later issue final guidance. 

“I am encouraged that the FDA is moving forward with guidance that will revise the discriminatory lifetime ban on blood donations,” said Baldwin. “This is a first step in ending an outdated policy that is medically and scientifically unwarranted, but it doesn’t go far enough. I look forward to continuing to work with the Administration and stakeholders to implement this first phase swiftly so we can soon achieve our ultimate goal of blood donation policies that are based on individual risk factors, that don’t unfairly single out one group of individuals, and that allow all healthy Americans to donate.”  

In December, Senator Baldwin led over 75 Members of Congress in calling on HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell to end the outdated and discriminatory ban, and replace it by instituting a risk-based policy.