
The "Choose Family" movement and the "Ethical" association have petitioned the Supreme Court against the alteration of the terminology on MDA blood donation forms whereby the terms "father" and mother" have been replaced by "Parent 1" and "Parent 2."
The petitioners also allege that the abolition of the ban on blood donations from men who have intimate relations with other men was done for political reasons and was not carried out in a professional manner according to accepted procedure.
The petition was filed by Michael Puah, chairman of "Choose Family," and his son Yehuda Puah, one of the leaders of the "Ethical" association.
The petition states that, "During the first months following Nitzan Horowitz's appointment as Health Minister, two significant decisions were made regarding the national blood bank. One was the abolition of the bar on blood donation for men who had intimate relations with men in the past 12 months, and the other was the change in terminology on the donation form, regarding the country of origin of the father and mother of the donor.
"Since these are life-threatening decisions as detailed below, and since Minister Horowitz prides himself on being gay and in his public activism for the benefit of this sector, there is concern that the two decisions that are the subject of this petition were made for political reasons, even though experts have determined that they potentially endanger lives."
Furthermore, they argue, "The refusal of the respondents to disclose the details of the decision-making process, violating the Freedom of Information Law ... proves that the procedure was not followed in the customary manner but rather, that an invalid political decision was made."
Describing the specific dangers to the public thus posed, the petitioners note that, "This impedes the ability of the officials of the blood bank to identify rare blood types, and also discourages many from donating blood, to the point of endangering the lives of those in need of blood units."
Michael Puah noted that, "Minister Horowitz is guilty on two counts. First, he promotes an agenda that is the destruction of society, and in addition he harms the blood bank. I hope that the Supreme Court will put an end to this irresponsible behavior."
Yehuda Puah added: "Nitzan Horowitz endangers the health of us all in order to advance his political agendas. We have petitioned the Supreme Court in order to make it clear to the Health Minister that the blood bank does not belong to him and that he is not allowed to harm public health for political reasons."