LL> What is immoral about saving lives?

 LL> Pro-life Republicans claim to be pro-life.
 LL> Pro-life Democrats also claim to be pro-life.
 LL> Pro-life Independents even claim to be pro-life.

 LL> But everybody, regardless of party affiliation
 LL> or political ideology, says that selling body parts
 LL> is immoral, and that doing so should be illegal.

 Yep. I am both pro-life and opposed to selling body parts.

 ...

 LL> But nobody seems to be able to figure out why.

 Wrong, I figured it out long ago.

 ...

 LL> Now back to reality -

 Ok, who wrote this and signed Lee's name to it?

 LL> I read a classified ad in the newspaper
 LL> the other day that literally blew my mind -

 LL> "Kidney, runs good, $30,000 or best offer."

 LL> This was a woman from St. Petersburg, Florida.
 LL> Said her name was Ruth.  Apparently, all she
 LL> wanted was some money, and selling a kidney
 LL> seemed to her an easy way to make some quick
 LL> cash.

 Ok, one reason that one should be illegal is she is too dumb to
 give informed consent. She should have said, bidding starts at
 $30,000.

 Oh, and that was in 1997.

 LL> Not having anything else to do, and with no LSU
 LL> or Saints football game being played this weekend,
 LL> I decided to give her a call.  It was a short
 LL> conversation.  She told me she got a few serious
 LL> calls, but then the newspaper refused to run her
 LL> ad again, warning her that she might be arrested.

 You called her in 1997?

 LL> What gets me is why anybody would be willing to
 LL> sell a perfectly good kidney for a mere $30,000?
 LL> But then I remembered that people in Pakistan
 LL> and other parts of the world do this all the time,
 LL> selling a kidney for much less.

 ...

 LL> good working condition?  People are allowed to
 LL> donate body parts if they are dead.  Notice I
 LL> said donate, not sell.  As it is, people have
 LL> to wait until they are dead before they can
 LL> donate their own body parts.  Can't sell body

 You can donate a kidney if you are alive, and have two good
 ones.

 LL> Why not sell body parts while still alive?

 Why not sell body parts while still alive, for delivery after
 death?

 ...

 LL> those who are homeless.  Rich and poor alike
 LL> receive body parts, and millions have agreed to
 LL> become donors themselves.

 Not quite true. Rich and poor receive body parts, but not alike.
 All too often the rich get what the poor need.

 ...

 LL> body parts for free?  And what about waiting lists?
 LL> Why should there be waiting lists?  If somebody
 LL> has the money, and is willing to pay the price ...

 If somebody has the money and is willing to pay the price, the
 poor will never get a transplant again.

 And that is the basis for not allowing the sale of body parts.

 Walmart is trying to get into providing health care. The Walmart
 business modely requires cheap suppliers to provide cheap
 prices. That model is why this country has unemployment about
 15% in real numbers.

 Apply that to body parts. To sell in quantity you have to have a
 supply of cheap parts. That means a lot of donors/sellers. With
 enough sellers you will be able to buy a kidney for $1000. To
 maintain that we have to maintain a large number of people in
 poverty in this country.

 It's hard enough to get a congress owned by the rich to do
 anything to help lift people from poverty, with a need for cheap
 body parts there will be that much more incentive to keep a
 large portion of the population poor.

BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... To beer or not to beer? (C) Shakesbeer )
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