bio-ethics of organ harvesting

Should organ harvesting be legal? Honestly, I am prone to say that it is filed under the category of it is your body you do what ever you want to it. You have to live with the consequences of what ever stupid thing you decide to do to yourself. When inspecting the legality of the situation I think that it should be legal, but under strict regulations. It is basic human instinct to fear what you do not understand. When men fear something nowadays it is their instinct to outlaw anything that may be different or weird, and let’s face the selling of organs for a profit is kind of unusual so it was banned as illegal and unethical. I think that it is your choice to sell your kidneys if you were that desperate but does that make it a good idea, no. It is never a good idea to do anything that would decrease your optimal health and productivity but people will still do it. Marijuana was outlawed and yet people still use it. You will find that throughout life the illegalization of things does not always deter someone from doing it so I say legalize it and it will help drop the associated crime rate and lets you apply rules and regulations which will help the process stay safe and legitimate.

As for the ethical side of the debate I feel that it is not for one man to decide the choices of another. I do not have the authority to tell another person that the way they are doing something is wrong on an ethical sense. I can tell them my opinion that it may be a stupid idea but it is up to them to decide their own fates. I personally would not sell my organs just because I believe that it is not my responsibility to risk my well being for others unless absolutely necessary, say if one of my children needed it. I am an organ donor by law that if I die I would allow for the harvesting of my organs. I would, though I personally am not allowed to donate no matter what my feelings are because it may contain remnants of cancer infected cells. So I think that I think that it should be legal because that it can lower crime rates involving organ-trafficking. Plus legalizing it will make the safety the primary concern instead of the choice to do it, stupid or not. So yes, i think that it is only un-ethical if you make it un-etheical, say by using the black market or forcing someone to sell their organs against their will. Other than that yes it is ethical as long as you have good reason, and therefore should not be illegal.
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I would have to agree with you Matt, when it comes to something so crazy sounding as harversting organs, one does seem to jump to conclusion. Just because something may sound scary, it does not mean that it actually is, I need hard core fact to show me the risks to this process. I liked what you said about another person's decision and you can't just tell them not to do something just because you may not agree with it. I feel that if people have a chance to sell their organs, then there will be a bigger supply (Selling Human Organs, 2007). Morgan made a really good point, she pointed out that I made a good point about the supply, but how long will the organs last? How long can they be preserved? Her comment made me think about how much of a difference or not it would make to sell ones organs. I still think that it would make a big difference and I agree with you totally, it is that person’s choice. I think it would really spread the word and get more people involved and if it's risky, well when push comes to shove, it’s their decision.

I agree with you Matt on the points made in your post. I have a lot of the same ideas and some different backup to them. I feel that my information will support what you say. Some of the statements you made are things I didn’t think of. The statements you made support my statements well. I truly believe in the fact that legalizing it would lower crime rates. I also agree with you on the statement about it being unethical if you make it unethical.