(OPINION) A 66-year-old Scottish man who has donated blood for years says he was turned away after refusing to answer if he was, or had recently been, pregnant. According to the Daily Wire, Leslie Sinclair has donated over 125 pints of blood in the last half-century, according to the Daily Mail.
But when he most recently showed up to do his part to save lives, he says he was told to fill out a form asking if he was or had been pregnant anytime within the past six months. “I indicated to the staff that I could not be in this position, but they told me that I must answer, otherwise I would not be able to donate blood,” Sinclair, of the central Scotland town of Stirling, told the Daily Mail.
“I told them that it was stupid and that if I had to leave I would not come back and that was it, I got on my bike and left.” All potential donors are being asked the question in order to “promote inclusiveness” and because pregnancy “not always visually clear,” the Mail reported. The United Kingdom’s National Health Service is trying to encourage blood donation amid a shortage, and the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service recently mounted a campaign to recruit 16,000 new donors.
The stand-off took place as NHS England launched a campaign earlier this week to recruit a million more blood donors over the next five years after numbers fell during the pandemic. The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) began a drive earlier this month to find 16,000 new donors in the coming year. It emerged last night that all potential donors are asked if they are pregnant to ‘promote inclusiveness’ and because pregnancy is ‘not always visually clear’.
Angry at the refusal to take his blood, Mr Sinclair walked away and last night told of his frustration at the ‘nonsensical’ decision. The father of two, from Stirling in central Scotland, said: ‘I am angry because I have been giving blood since I was 18 and have regularly gone along. I’m very happy to do so without any problem.
‘There is always a form to fill in and that’s fine – they tend to ask about medical conditions or diseases – and clearly that’s because the blood needs to be safe. This time around, there was a question I hadn’t seen before: ‘Are you pregnant, or have you been in the last six months?’ which required a yes or no answer.
‘I pointed out to the staff that it was impossible for me to be in that position but I was told that I would need to answer, otherwise I couldn’t give blood. ‘I told them that was stupid and that if I had to leave, I wouldn’t be back, and that was it, I got on my bike and cycled away.
‘It is nonsensical and it makes me angry because there are vulnerable people waiting for blood, including children, and in desperate need of help. But they’ve been denied my blood because of the obligation to answer a question that can’t possibly be answered.’
