Robert Wright

Robert Wright argues in the following viewpoint that removing the organs from executed criminals for transplantation is a practical and moral way to ease the shortage of organ donors. He maintains that using the death of a guilty person is an ethical way to save the life of an innocent person. What is immoral about the situation, Wright contends, is executing prisoners for their beliefs, not for the use of their organs afterwards. Wright is a contributing editor for the New Republic, a weekly liberal magazine.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. Who is Harry Wu and why is he important in the debate about buying and selling human organs, according to Wright?
2. In Wright’s opinion, why are Americans in no position to complain about the inegalitarian effects of organ allocation...