Organ sales are illegal in the United States and most other countries (Iran is a partial exception). The National Organ Transplantation Act of 1984 states, “it shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly acquire, receive, or otherwise transfer any human organ for valuable consideration for use in human transplantation if the transfer affects interstate commerce.” The penalty for breaking the law is a fine of $50,000 or up to five years in prison, or both.

In Libertarian Land, organ markets are legal. This makes everyone better off. …

A second possible objection is that only the rich will benefit from legalized sales. That is unlikely, since the increased supply of organs due to legalization will drive organ prices down. Plus, private or public charities can subsidize organ purchases for low income patients, while keeping the trade legal to foster greater supply. Government funding for organ purchases might even pay for itself by improving recipient health and reducing public expenditure on health care (e.g., dialysis treatment for kidney failure).

[If that’s the case, why not stick with the current system in which government is already subsidizing kidney transplants, largely for the same reason? I’m sympathetic to the concept of allowing organ sales, but it’s trickier than it sounds. I wrote about this in 2009, both for Hot Air and at the Wall Street Journal, and remained somewhat skeptical that it can be done without exploiting the poor and escalating costs to the point of making transplants unaffordable for most who need them. The best hope is that stem-cell research will allow for a process in which a person’s organs can be replaced with one developed from their own stem cells, which would not just solve the supply issue but also end the necessity of immune suppression. — Ed]