Speech Outline:
- Lack of enough reserve of body organs in the hospitals lead to loss of many lives. These losses need not be there while the people can rally means of preventing them.
- Statistics indicate that many are in the hospitals awaiting organ transplants
- While only 1 in 4 people get the organs, the others die while waiting for transplants or get to a diseased state where they cannot be helped.
- The reason as to why there is a shortage is because there are regulations that make the sale of human organs illegal.
- Advantages of legalizing organ transfers;
- A lot of lives would be saved
- Black market on human body organs would go down
- Safe organ transfers would be ensured.
- If the sale of human organs continues being illegal, then;
- The black market will continue thriving
- More lives will be lost to preventable causes
- The people have the power to raise and call for regulations review so that the sale of human organs is legalized.
Conclusion: sale of human organs is not a social vice as many are driven to believe. Rather, it could be the way to saving the lives of many people who lie helplessly in hospital beds due to organ failures.
Specific Purpose: to persuade my audience that legalizing the sale of body organs is not a degradation of human value and dignity but a way through which lives can be saved.
Proposition: In America alone, there are a lot of people who need organ transplants. In fact, over 75,000 individuals are on the waiting list for organ transfer. Of these, only 18,000- roughly 1 in every 4 people – has the probability to get a transplant (Knox, 1). Of the people in the waiting list, some will die while waiting for a suitable organ to be found while others will get to such a diseased condition that there is no way that they can handle a transplant. This condition is brought about by the shortage of organs available for transplant (Smith, 1). As such, I recommend that rather than lose the lives of so many people, it would be much better if the sale of human organs was legalized so that there can be enough organ stock in the hospitals for the people who need them.
Attention Step: Let us consider the following situation. Assume that your close relative was admitted in a hospital with dire need for a kidney transplant. However, due to the strict regulations governing the issue of organ transfer, your relative has to wait and be sustained on dialysis (International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEI) (1). As an individual, what would be your general feeling? Fully aware that there are a lot of people who could offer your relative the organ yet the law do not allow it could possibly lead to the death of your loved one. If we look as the situation as our affair not ‘their’ affair, then we might realize that we need the sale of organs to be legalized.
Need Step: At this point, when we personalize the problem, we realize that it directly affects us. You may never know when you or your relative needs a transplant since no one predicts the occurrence of a disease. I therefore posit that it is better to be safe than sorry.
Satisfaction Step: we might be wondering how we can benefit from the legalization of the sale of human organs. Smith (2) posits that such a move would go a long way in curbing the shortage of organs that is experienced in our hospitals today. As such, more lives would be saved. Secondly, there is a possibility that such an act would lead to a reduction in the black market on human organs. It is therefore evident that legalizing sale of human organs could be quite beneficial to the society.
Visualization: as explained above, legalizing the sale of human organs could go a long way in saving many lives. Similarly, it would make donations safer and deal with the black market issue. However, if this move is not accepted, then we shall continue losing our people to preventable causes. Similarly, we shall propagate the black market where unscrupulous individuals will continue making money from illegal sale of the organs.
Action Step: The decision and the ability to save our people lie within us. We have the knowledge as well as the means to do it. However, there are regulations that make it impossible for us to realize this. As such, I recommend that we exert pressure on our legislators to pass an act that legalizes the sale of human organs.
Works Cited
IHEU. Why Markets in Non-Vital Human Transplant Organs should be Legalized. 2006. Web, 12th March 2012, http://www.iheu.org/node/2280
Knox, Richard. Should We Legalize the Market for Human Organs? 2011. Web, 12th March 2011, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90632108
Smith, Lewis. Sale of Human Organs Should be Legalized, Say Surgeons. 2011. Web, 12th March 2011, http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/sale-of-human-organs-should-be-legalised-say-surgeons-2176110.html
