Organ donation should be 'opt out' as opposed to 'opt in'

Religious Percentage As an athiest myself I am aware of the rising numbers and the fall in christianity, however we do not legislate for the percentage. Things like freedom of speech etc. are in place because it is unpopular speech by the minority that would be suppressed. Laws should not be made for the majority, they should be madeto protect people. Even if only 1 person was of a religion that did not agree to organ donation, the law should be there to protect that person from unwanted invasion of their body. After all, their body is their own property, is it not? Religion and Prio Consent What we are talking about here is doing away with prior consent and assuming we have it unless specifically stated that we do not. I would like to point out that some groups are in great disfavour of organ donation, such and Gypsies and Shinto. To assume that these groups give permission unless they don't would be an insult to their own beliefs and opinions. Thats like saying "we'll put everyone down as wanting cremated unless we get specific written notice that they want a burial. " That fact alone alienates the people who do not with to donate. If they want to donate, thats great, but it is a privilage to be given permission from someone to use their body to help anothers life and we shouldn't take that for granted. Other groups like Muslims, for example, require that specific permission be given from the donor, and to assume an opt-in would be as good as ignoring that part of the Muslim religion. The way the system works just now means we do not step on the toes of religions or alienate people by goign ahead and cutting folk open because they haven't said not to. If we go ahead and change that, we might change the opinion of any muslims currently thinking of making their own choice to opt in. The Jewish community needs specific permission from a Rabbii, not just the donor, for another example. Determining The ReligionSay we change things to an op-out system, we would have to take on board each religions requirements surrounding donation. We currently do not have a register of everyone's religion, and to do so we be a massive undertaking, as well facing many of its own problems. So how do we go about determining the persons religion? What if they converted today, family and friends were not made aware, and we go ahead and say "no, he was not religios, donation is fine". We would be going against that peprson religios beliefs, even if he only converted to them today. In his eyes, you may be condemming him to hell, and thats a pretty big issue that you would need to overcome. The only way you could have an opt-out system that does not encrouch heavily on religion is if you have a way to determine whether the person is of a religion, and if so what one. Otherwise each religions specific requirements and views surrounding organ donation is completely ignored. Saved Life, Medical SchoolIt has been mentioned in the past that there is no guarentee that organs for donation will go specifically to donation. What if some of them go as cadavers to a medical school, students do need to be tuaght dont they? If we have no system for asking what types of donation they are opted in to, how do we stop someone ending up on a college table when their beliefs would only have them donating for serios medical emergencies. Further to that, Muslims can only donate after death if it will save the others life, other than that you are forbidden to cut up the perfect human body. Only when saving a life is it justified to them. Another reason to why you would have to determine fully the religion of each person, as well as matching up the potential Mixing paperwork While mixing paperwork is going to be true on either side, it poses a much bigger risk when it is an opt-out system. With the current system, they might mix up your will to opt-in, in which case your body remains the way it was. If they mix it up on an opt-out system though, your bosy might be cut open and organs removed against your beliefs, religions and ideology. This would be a much bigger issue.