Not for Sale: The Ethical and Human Rights Implications of Commodification of Body Parts

Abstract

Intellectual support for commodification or sale of body parts – a growing problem in third world countries – is premised on the right of competent rational agents to contract with each other on mutually beneficial terms without hindrance by a third party. Derived from the principle of individual autonomy, this construct pays little attention to the socio-economic dynamics – the invisible, yet, powerful forces – which structure and constrain human agency and which define the milieu in which such contracts must take place. Veering away from this parochialism, in favor of a more robustly nuanced and cosmopolitan discourse, one that is not dissociated from historicism and political economy of market forces, this paper invites a re-examination of the voluntariness of the choice made or to be made by the individual invited to sell parts of his body, arguing that choice-centered defense of commodification of body parts, when fully examined, is indefensible and unsustainable.

Keywords: Human organs, body parts, commodification, law, ethics, human rights

JEL Classification: K33, I1, I12, I14, I18, I3