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   
      
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