Repugnance Shouldn't Be a Standard

Over the past several years I've read more and more from bioethicists and others who argue against some regulation, policy, or law based primarily on the grounds of "repugnance". I've read this on the issues of stem cell research, cloning, euthanasia, and others.

This is absurd. One's subjective emotional responses -- whether discomfort, repugnance, apprehension, joy, elation -- are not a proper grounding for moral evaluation of an action, or a prospective regulation, policy, or law.

And yet this charge of "repugnance" surfaces time and again, perhaps most commonly in connection with the dire situation with the lack of kidneys available for transplant. There are no where near enough donors relative to the number of those who need a kidney -- people are suffering for years for lack of a kidney, and many die waiting for one.

And yet this problem could be solved in a relatively short time if a market for kidneys were allowed to develop and flourish. In such a market, individuals could be given cash payments for one of their healthy kidneys, or their beneficiaries could be given cash payment in exchange for kidney donation after death. The former is what would really fix the shortage, but even the latter (which seems like a no-brainer) would help. But neither of these are allowed today in the US. Although regulation of a market, generally speaking, interferes with that market and creates a suboptimal result, even a regulated market is better than no legal market at all. So in this case, as with many other non-violent acts that are currently prohibited, I definitely support a move from prohibition to a regulated market for kidneys.

The BBC recently did a special on this subject. This summary, after mentioning the "repugnance" or "disgust" viewpoint (I won't even call it an argument), quotes a Bishop whose position is that cash payment for a kidney negates the act's moral worth. His position apparently is that simply donating a kidney to a stranger or loved one is a good thing, but not if you are paid for doing so. This is, in part, the common ethical bias against money, commercial exchange, and best put -- the trading of a value for a value. This is a basic -- and common -- ethical error the Bishop is making here.

Here is a great clip from this article:

Yet others argue that what really counts here is not the motive, but the results.

American writer Virginia Postrel has been campaigning for it to be legal in the US to pay cash for a kidney from a live donor.

She said: "People want to keep it as a heroic, uncompensated act because it makes them feel good.

"Never mind that tens of thousands of people are dying for your right to feel good about other people's heroic acts."

Postrel's criticism sounds cynical, but she isn't the cynic she appears to be. She donated a kidney to a sick friend, became interested in the idea of a market for kidneys because of her experience with donation.

"The reaction is completely disproportionate to the actual risks involved. People do act like you're completely nuts."

Italics mine... what a great line!