What is Labor Trafficking: Part Five Illegal Organ Trade

By Ashlie Bailey

People think of organ trafficking as a myth or as something that only happens overseas. In reality, it can happen anywhere. It isn’t that shocking that organ trafficking happens in places like China or that in the Chinese prison system some inmates are forced to donate their organs without consent. In other countries, poverty is what drives organ trafficking. This form of trafficking impacts men. Men and women are promised payment for their body parts. Victims of this crime end up severely wounded and many times the promise for payment is broken.

What is shocking to Americans is that organ trafficking can even happen in the United States. Everyone has heard the news about body parts harvesting in the abortion industry. While most organ trafficking happens in other countries the United States is vulnerable. The main reason why isn’t because of the abortion industry. What makes the United States vulnerable is that the Organ and Body Part Harvesting system here has become a for profit making industry that is barely regulated and highly flawed.

In the United States, it is legal for everyone involved in the body parts harvesting industry to get paid except for those who donate their organs. People think they are donating body parts when the reality is that they are giving away body parts so that corporations can sell them to doctors, hospitals, and clinics who sell expensive surgery to the patients. None of the body parts are actually really donated and the majority of the parts are used in unnecessary super expensive cosmetic surgeries. This industry exists to make money. Some corporations in the United States even accept unidentified body parts that come from other countries. Corporations that sell body parts aren’t even required to use barcodes. Some corporations don’t even show any identification indicating the exact source of the parts. They become untraceable. This is dangerous and unacceptable

Where ever there is a demand for body parts organ trafficking can happen. Most people think that the demand for body parts is only for transplants and research but the truth is that there are other more sinister reasons for the trafficking of body parts. Even in the United States body parts can be used for other purposes than for transplants. This is where organ trafficking and sex trafficking overlap. One of the horrors of underground trafficking rings is that there is a growing demand for the illegal use of body parts in gonzo pornography, snuff films, and religious cults. And I know for sure it isn’t just a rumor. Not only does this affect the people who have had their body parts harvested; it is a whole world of horrific trauma for everyone who is exposed to it. This must come to an end.

In the whole world, there is hardly any treatment or aftercare available for victims of organ trafficking. Not only do those who have become victims of organ harvesting need treatment and aftercare; everyone who is exposed to it in any way including those who were exposed through violent pornography needs treatment for trauma.