Major news for people living with HIV/AIDS
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives
gave final approval to the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act, a bill
that will end a 25-year ban on using HIV-positive donors’ organs for any
purpose, including medical research. If the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) concludes that transplanting organs between
HIV-positive Americans is safe and effective under scientific guidelines
set by the law, such transplants will then become legal and it will no
longer be a crime for HIV-positive Americans to donate their organs.
President Barack Obama is expected to sign the legislation into law.
The HOPE Act was introduced earlier this
year in the Senate by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI),
Tom Coburn (R-OK), and Rand Paul (R-KY) and in the House by Rep. Lois
Capps (D-CA). HRC has worked alongside several other organizations to
ensure this bill becomes law, including AIDS United, amfAR, HIV Medicine
Association and the American Medical Association.
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