German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 21/86, p. 10526.
Frau President. Right honorable ladies and gentlemen.
We as legislators in very difficult times go the way in common of preserving mankind
with its God-given dignity, and to so support it in a transformational era that
this becomes part of our being as free and responsible creatures, and
similarly as humble co-creators in a pre-ordained order.
Our dignity rests especially on the natural law, the Christian social teaching
and humanist philosophy. We thus need continue to resolve the central
question: What is allowed to man? Not: What can he do? Only so does he
remain a man in a godly and natural order.
Certainly in the debate on organ donation this becomes clear. The Catholic
Church sees the organ donation as a possible act of love of neighbor, yet
only by voluntary, informed consent and utmost certainty upon the
donor’s death. The body is not allowed to become disposable matter.
The presumed consent [Widerspruchlösimg] in the present discussion, on
the contrary, assumes an acceptance where none is actively presented and
where possible none, actively and self-determined, can or wants to be given.
It takes from the people in the acute situation the possibility themselves or
through relatives to decide. It ignores the religious reservations of many
Christians, Moslems and orthodox Jews who do not generally recognize brain
death as complete death and emphasize the integrity of the body. And it
stands in contradiction to the dignity of the Basic Law, and to
philosophical anthropology.
The presumed consent in regards organ donation potentially treats the body
as a disposable resource. Man however is not a resource for social
purposes, even if it is for saving the life of another. One’s own inherent
dignity does not end with death. Technical feasibility and commerce are
not allowed to be able to set aside ethical limits. Trans-humanism and the
de-coupling of humanity from the Creator are already far advanced.
Humanity readies itself to set the natural order on its head.
In the Basic Law it is stated: “The dignity of men is inviolable.” Dignity
however follows from that the man is a subject of this law, not an object
of planning and disposal. The body of the individual is not property of the
state, is not property of society or of an expectation, but an expression of
the personal existence. A Politik which makes the body disposable without
expressed, informed consent violates the primacy of the person before the
collective.
Valued colleagues, there is no right to the organs of other persons. There
is no obligation for compassion. There is a right to not decide. Let us thus
remain with the decision process which authentic free will and clarification
strengthen. Let us confirm men as free and responsible beings. These
considerations unite Christian creation theology, the reason of natural law,
humanist freedom and steadfast loyalty to the Basic Law.
I thank from the heart all donors who voluntarily and out of conviction
verify the compassion of the organ donation. Many hearty thanks. You are
heroes. We need more.
Many thanks.
[trans: tem]
