National Donate Life Month, 2014

Proclamation 9095 of March 31, 2014

National Donate Life Month, 2014

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Each day, in quiet hospital rooms and busy offices, in
familiar sanctuaries and family living rooms, people
make the courageous decision to give the gift of life.
After passing his first driving test, an elated
teenager adds a lifesaving symbol to his license. While
struggling to comprehend their own loss, grieving
parents choose to help another child live. During
National Donate Life Month, we celebrate those who
provide vital organ, eye, and tissue donations, and we
bring new hope to the growing list of men, women, and
children who still need a donation.

More than 120,000 Americans are now on the transplant
list, and each day, 18 of them die waiting. The
individuals in need of these donations are our moms,
dads, brothers, sisters, children, and friends--someone
important to us or someone else. I encourage all
Americans to think about their loved ones and to
consider becoming a donor. Discuss your decision with
those close to you, and if you decide to donate, visit
www.OrganDonor.gov and sign up in your State's donor
registry.

Every donor can save up to eight lives, and thanks to
scientific advances, we have the potential to help even
more people in need. Last year, I signed the HIV Organ
Policy Equity Act, which allows scientists to research
organ donation from one person with human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to another. Ultimately,
this law could save lives--permitting donations between
people living with HIV and expanding opportunities for
more Americans to participate in these life-saving
efforts.

As a Nation, let us shine a light on the power of
donation. Let us lift up the friends and families of
donors and remember those who ensured that in their
death, others received life.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim April 2014 as
National Donate Life Month. I call upon health care
professionals, volunteers, educators, government
agencies, faith-based and community groups, and private
organizations to join forces to boost the number of
organ and tissue donors throughout our Nation.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord two
thousand fourteen, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
eighth.