US to lift ban on gay and bisexual men donating sperm
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it will axe its long-standing ban barring gay and bisexual men from donating sperm in a landmark decision.
The current FDA ban, established in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s, bars men who have sex with men from donating sperm anonymously if they’ve had sexual contact with another man in the last five years.
However, the FDA revealed recently that they hope to scrap the current ban in favour of an in-depth screening process to assess a donor’s risk of carrying HIV or other infections.
Should the ban be lifted, the number of anonymous sperm donors would increase for those seeking IVF treatment. The FDA hopes that lifting the ban will similarly lead to the lifting of similar bans on gay and bisexual men donating other tissues, such as blood.
