House supports ending ban on sperm donation by gay men

In the same year that a U.S. Supreme Court decision legalized gay marriage in all 50 states, the AOA House has approved a resolution calling for the end of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s ban on anonymous sperm donation by men who have sex with men.

Resolution co-author Nkeiruka Rachael Banda, OMS III, worked at a sperm bank before attending medical school and says she was struck from day one by the unfairness of the ban.

“We had a lot of gay couples wanting to come in and donate, but we couldn’t accept those donations because they wouldn’t qualify,” says Banda, who attends the Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine in Yakima, Washington. “Even if you’re in a monogamous relationship and have been together for 10 years, you still can’t donate sperm anonymously.”

Heterosexual men who had more than one partner in the past year were allowed to donate once they had a clean bill of health, Banda notes.

Many of the gay couples Banda encountered at the sperm bank knew other couples who had used sperm banks to conceive and wanted to assist aspiring parents anonymously.

Banda collaborated with fellow students to submit the resolution via the Student Osteopathic Medical Association.

“This resolution aligns with several other resolutions on equality and fair treatment that have passed SOMA over the past couple of years,” says Matthew W. Smith, OMS IV, SOMA’s resolutions director. Two years ago, the AOA passed a SOMA-submitted resolution calling for an end to the FDA ban on blood donation by men who have sex with men.

“We are very excited to see the AOA stand with us once again on issues of equality,” says Smith, who attends the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine in Tulsa.

This year, the move to overturn the lifetime blood donation ban for gay men picked up traction, with the FDA announcing a plan to end the ban and Senate Democrats urging the agency to do so quickly.