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IRELAND, January 4, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Ireland’s health minister plans to introduce legislation making organ donation in the republic automatic.

“It is my goal to make organ donation the norm in Ireland when people pass away in circumstances in which donation is a possibility,” said Simon Harris, who aggressively and ultimately successfully campaigned for the legalization of abortion in Ireland.

The proposed legislation will allow people to forgo organ donation only if they opt out in advance. If family members don’t want a dead relative’s organs harvested, they will be able to stop it from occurring, according to DublinLive.

“While this has taken a lot longer than anticipated, I will bring forward proposals to ensure 2019 is the year we introduce an opt-out organ donation register,” said Harris. “I hope the introduction of an opt-out system encourages people to discuss their wishes with loved ones.”

If the legislation is passed, Ireland will join Wales and England in presuming consent for organ donation unless someone has opted out. Similar measures have been proposed in Scotland.

Pro-life advocates have expressed concern that many medical professionals classify patients as “brain dead,” even though these patients’ hearts are still beating on their own and their bodies are functioning normally. The nebulous “brain death” classification allows a patient’s organs to be collected.

Others worry that consent or presumed consent for organ donation incentivizes doctors to view sick patients as potential harvesting opportunities rather than people they are obligated to heal.

As Brad Mattes of Life Issues Institute has documented, the organ transplant industry generates $20 billion annually and transplant surgeons are paid “handsomely … The only ones banned from the money gravy train are the donors and their families.”

There have been a number of cases of patients waking up shortly before having their organs harvested.

Belgium, the Netherlands, and Canada allow doctors to harvest organs of patients they legally euthanize.

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