Get with the times, America!
While science continues to make advances, unfortunately our laws don’t keep up with them!
16-year-old Alexander ‘A.J.’ Betts Jr. committed suicide in July 2013 after being outed as gay, months after becoming an organ donor. His heart, liver, and lungs were able to help people who needed them, but his eyes couldn├óΓé¼Γäót be donated because of who he was!
The FDA made a rule decades ago that homosexual men couldn’t donate tissue, because of certain risk factors. The eyes are considered banned tissues.
However, now people like Glenn Cohen, a bioethics law professor for Harvard Law School, are speaking out! He said:
“We think it’s time for the FDA to take a serious look at this policy, because it’s out of step with peer countries, it’s out of step with modern medicine, it’s out of step with public opinion, and we feel it may be legally problematic.”
Heck yes it is!
Further, the law only applies to MEN and the American Medical Association voted to end the ban last year.
As for how it has affected the young teen’s family, hear his mom speak out about it (above)!