[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 5, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 20369-20370]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-07312]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 88 , No. 65 / Wednesday, April 5, 2023 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 20369]]


                Proclamation 10544 of March 31, 2023

                
National Donate Life Month, 2023

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                More than 400,000 Americans in every corner of our 
                country are alive today thanks to the tremendous 
                generosity and courage of organ donors. During National 
                Donate Life Month, we honor donors and their families 
                who have turned pain into purpose by sharing the gift 
                of life with loved ones in need or countless others 
                whom they have never met. We encourage everyone to 
                follow their lead and register as an organ, eye, 
                tissue, or bone marrow donor, bringing hope and healing 
                to so many others.

                Last year, American doctors completed our Nation's one-
                millionth organ transplant, a tremendous milestone in 
                the history of a procedure pioneered and honed in 
                America. We are now performing transplants at a record 
                pace, with higher success rates and increased lifespans 
                for recipients. Still, every 10 minutes, someone new 
                joins the waiting list--fighting organ failure or blood 
                cancer, their futures hanging in the balance. More than 
                100,000 people, including 1,900 children, are currently 
                on the waiting list. A majority of them are people of 
                color, for whom it can sometimes be more difficult to 
                find a good donor match. Seventeen Americans die every 
                day while waiting for a transplant.

                We each have the power to change that. Just one person 
                can save up to 8 lives through organ donation after 
                they die and improve another 75 lives through eye and 
                tissue donation. Registering as a donor does not change 
                the quality of care that you receive in your lifetime. 
                It allows you to give countless others a second chance 
                at life and your family to find peace amid grief while 
                leaving an extraordinary legacy of compassion and 
                dignity.

                Each year, thousands of Americans choose to donate an 
                organ while still living, a profoundly courageous act 
                of connection and healing.

                My Administration is working across the board to 
                support organ donation and to make sure living donors 
                and recipients have the affordable health care and 
                prescription drug coverage they need before and after a 
                transplant and throughout their lives. We have acted to 
                extend Medicare coverage of vital drugs for kidney 
                transplant patients. And just recently, we launched the 
                Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) 
                Modernization Initiative to better serve the needs of 
                patients and families across the country. We have 
                published data on organ donors, organ procurements, 
                transplant waitlists, and transplant recipients. We 
                will foster competition, working to promote the use of 
                innovative technology and ensure the highest quality of 
                care is provided to patients. We are committed to a 
                modernized OPTN that is transparent, accountable, and 
                equitable.

                We have also launched the transformational Advanced 
                Research Projects Agency for Health, securing $2.5 
                billion for breakthroughs in the prevention, detection, 
                and treatment of cancer and other deadly diseases, 
                which could one day make many transplants unnecessary.

                America is a great Nation because we are a good 
                people--generous, decent, and fair. We look out for our 
                neighbors and lend a hand to those in need. Few things 
                demonstrate that more than the act of becoming an organ

[[Page 20370]]

                donor. Any adult can register, regardless of age or 
                medical history; in many States, doing so is as simple 
                as checking a box when renewing your driver's license 
                or signing up online. I encourage all Americans to 
                visit organdonor.gov to learn more about organ, eye, 
                and tissue donation or bloodstemcell.hrsa.gov for more 
                information on donating bone marrow. We celebrate 
                everyone who makes this deeply generous choice to give 
                others the gift of life.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of 
                the United States of America, by the authority vested 
                in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United 
                States, do hereby proclaim April 2023 as National 
                Donate Life Month. I call on every person who can to 
                share the gift of life and hope by becoming an organ, 
                eye, tissue, or bone marrow donor. I also call on this 
                Nation to observe National Pediatric Transplant Week 
                from April 23 through April 29, a week dedicated to 
                ending the pediatric transplant waiting list.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                thirty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                seventh.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2023-07312
Filed 4-4-23; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P