Let's Compensate Bone Marrow Donors

On February 15, 2011, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in a constitutional challenge against the U.S. Attorney General to change the part of the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) that makes compensating bone marrow donors a federal crime. Every year, nearly 3,000 Americans die because they cannot find a matching bone marrow donor. Minorities are hit especially hard. Offering modest incentives to attract more bone marrow donors would be worth pursuing, but federal law makes that a felony punishable by up to five years in prison even though bone marrow is just a form of blood and it is legal to compensate people for blood donation. Following the hearing, Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Jeff Rowes joined Akiim Deshay, a leukemia survivor and founder of www.blackbonemarrow.com , and Kumud Majumder, whose 11-year-old son recently passed away waiting for a bone marrow transplant, for a press conference to discuss the urgency of this case.
Donate to IJ: https://ij.org/support/give-now/