This excerpt from Red Cross guidelines on eligibility for blood donationsummarizes some of the FDA's policies on exclusion from donation based on certain diseases or behavior history.
On 8/27/07, the California Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill to allow HIV-positive men to have their sperm washed and used for fertility treatments. The bill would allow the washed sperm to be used in artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization under certain guidelines. Since 1989, California has prohibited HIV-positive people from donating sperm, blood or tissue in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus. The law has prevented HIV-positive men from using reproductive technologies that lower the risk of transmitting HIV to their partners. The bill would allow couples to use reproductive technology as long as the HIV-positive donor's sperm is processed to minimize the risk of HIV transmission; informed mutual consent is documented; and the couple uses American Society for Reproductive Medicine-approved sperm processing procedures. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation and Deborah Cohan, medical director of the Bay Area Perinatal AIDS Center, California is one of two states where couples with an HIV-positive man cannot undergo fertility treatments with his donated sperm.
