There are currently 103,000 people in the U.S. waiting for life-saving organ transplants and 17 people die each day waiting for one. The demand for organ transplants worldwide far exceeds the supply due to a reliance on altruistic donations in most countries. Some economists and health experts wonder whether creating a free or regulated market for selling human organs would solve this issue. Those in support of a market argue that each person has a choice to decide what they want to do with their bodies and that with proper regulations, it can be safe, ethical, and financially beneficial for both sellers and buyers. Those who don’t support it have ethical and practical concerns about turning body parts into market commodities and worry about the risks of abuse that would be difficult to control and could undermine the integrity of the medical system, even with regulation.
With this background, we debate the following question: Should We Legalize the Market for Human Organs?
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