ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that none of the anti-market arguments are sound. It also shows that not only would the autonomy of the would-be pure donors fail to be compromised by the commodification of the body parts that they wished to donate, but that the prohibition of a market itself would compromise the autonomy of some persons subjected to it. The concern that the commercial procurement of body parts would adversely affect the autonomy and well-being of their recipients is thus misplaced. The standard view is that human body parts for transplantation should only be procured through their altruistic donation and not through commercial means. The first argument for the view that transplant organs should only be procured through direct altruism can be drawn directly from Titmuss's The Gift Relationship, in which he argued that the British system of procuring blood for medical use through altruistic donation alone was superior to the commercial system used in America.
