The number of people worldwide seeking organs for transplant significantly outpaces the number of organs available. This has created, in a morbid lesson about “supply and demand,” the reality of “organ tourism,” where affluent Westerners travel overseas to obtain what they can’t get at home.
As a result, there’s now a thriving black market for transplantable organs, in which poverty-stricken people sell kidneys or parts of their liver. This practice, which Wesley J. Smith has called “biological colonialism,” needs to be banned.
Some poorer nations have banned this exploitative commerce, but China is increasing supply, forcibly harvesting organs from prisoners alive and dead, especially from the Muslim Uyghur population.
Both Canada and Texas, not typical legislative twins, are considering outright bans of their citizens from participating in “organ tourism.” It’s a small but important first step toward ending a barbaric practice. No price tag should ever be put on what is priceless.
Publication date: May 10, 2021
Photo courtesy: Pexels/Anna Shvets
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.
