One of the most respectable Catholic Church figures of Wales, Archbishop of Cardiff George Stack has criticized Labor Welsh Government’s plans to introduce a policy of organ donation after death. In this policy, the state would presume consent from the deceased person to donate his organs.

Stack said he is not against the practice of organ donation but only opposed to the way it is forced on the state people. If one wants to donate his organ after death, it should be out of his choice and not due to a law that is being forced upon them.

Till now, the decision has not been taken over this matter. But it is said that by the end of this month, a decision on whether or not the state should take organs from bodies considering presumed consent from the deceased.

Those who support this decision are Health Minister Lesley Griffiths, First Minister Carwyn Jones and Newport West Labour MP Paul Flynn and Kidney Wales Foundation and the British Medical Association. But Stack said their bodies are not a property of the states with which the Welsh Government could do anything they want.

If this practice gets active, then there are chances that the people would lose their trust over doctors and nurses. Stack says organ donation is a noble cause and it should be let in that genre only rather than forcing it as a duty on the people.

Stack said, “Giving organs is the most generous act of self-giving imaginable, but it has to be a choice that is freely embraced, not something the state assumes. Put more crudely, it can turn volunteers into conscripts”.

Addressing the governing body of the Church in Wales, Stack said it would be better if the government would find out ways to motivate the people to join the organ donor register.