Topic: Limitations on who can donate blood

Purpose: to call attention to the issue and get the rules changed

Thesis statement: The restrictions on who can donate blood need to be changed to allow for more people who want to donate blood be able to because the demand is high and the rules are outdated.

Introduction

Have you ever thought about donated blood? You would think it is a relatively simple, straight forward process where you go, fill out some personal information, get blood drawn, and then be on your way. Now for most, this is what happens but there are people out there who have a different experience when they try to go donate blood. For some, when they go to donate blood they are denied. Excluded from performing this civic duty because of various reasons. The one that I would like to focus on today is being gay. Under current regulations put in place, if you are a male and have had sexual contact with another male within the past year, you are ineligible to donate blood. The other aspects of this regulation blocks donors who used needles not prescribed by a doctor, had sex for money or drugs, or had sexual contact with someone who has done these things.  If really thought about, this excludes a bigger portion of the population then one might think and excludes potential donors and further decreases the blood supply. There is a vast need for blood donors across America, so why are we continuing to limit the supply? The restrictions on who can donate blood need to be changed to allow for more people who want to donate blood be able to because the demand is high and the rules are outdated.

Body

• Background on why this rule was created
• Specific story of someone who was denied (pulse shooting)
• Talk about how the blood is tested
• Other restrictions on blood donation
• The need for blood
• What allowing more people to donate would do

Conclusion

There is such a huge need for blood across the United States and it seems unfathomable to me why we continue to exclude a sect of people from donating. Gay people are actively excluded from donating blood over our fear of HIV. Even a test result of inconclusive is enough to have someone band from donating blood for life. This may have been acceptable many years ago when we knew very, very little about HIV. However, every time blood is donated, it is tested so why is the fear of HIV enough to block people from donating? We need to expand to pool of people allowed to donate blood so people who need blood have access to it. There is no risk in doing this because the blood is tested, and if passed, it is sanitized.