President Barack Obama on Thursday
signed into law a bill that ends the ban on organ transplants from
one person with HIV to another.
The HIV Organ Policy Equity Act (HOPE)
passed the House and Senate with bipartisan support.
“For decades, these organ transplants
have been illegal. It was even illegal to study whether they could be
safe and effective,” Obama said in an emailed statement. “But as
our understanding of HIV and effective treatments have grown, that
policy has become outdated. The potential for successful organ
transplants between people living with HIV has become more of a
possibility. The HOPE Act lifts the research ban, and, in time, it
could lead to live-saving organ donations for people living with HIV
while ensuring the safety of the organ transplant process and
strengthening the national supply of organs for all who need them.”
“Improving care for people living
with HIV is critical to fighting the epidemic, and it's a key goal of
my National HIV/AIDS Strategy,” Obama added. “The HOPE Act marks
an important step in the right direction, and I thank Congress for
their action.”
According to the Human Rights Campaign
(HRC), the nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, ending the ban
could save the lives of up to 1,000 HIV-positive patients with liver
or kidney failure each year.