Transplantation law in the Bundestag: organ donation – consent or objection?

epd | Before the first reading in the Bundestag about a possible new regulation of organ donation, supporters of the so-called objection regulation expressed confidence. The final vote is not planned until the end of the year, said SPD MP Sabine Dittmar, one of the initiators of the bill, to the “Augsburger Allgemeine” (Thursday). However, the group of representatives received “a lot of positive feedback”. “Also from MPs who clearly opposed the objection regulation last time,” she added before the first parliamentary deliberations on Thursday.

Under the objection regulation, anyone who did not object to removal during their lifetime would become an organ donor after their death. Proponents of this hope that there will then be more donor organs in Germany, which are currently often missing. Currently, organ donation requires the express consent of the deceased or their relatives.

A similar bill from a cross-party group on new regulations failed in 2020. “All in all, I perceive more openness towards the objection regulation in parliament than last time,” said the doctor Dittmar. More than 250 MPs signed the draft. “For a majority we would need 316,” she added. There are other MPs who have signaled their approval.

“But that doesn’t have to mean anything,” Dittmar told the newspaper: “Last time we had significantly more signatures, but in the end the majority still voted against the objection regulation.” In addition, the AfD almost unanimously rejects the draft. “That alone is around 150 MPs,” explained the SPD politician.

The opponents of the contradiction solution also do not want to make a prediction about the outcome of the vote. “There are a lot of undecided MPs on this issue, so the result is completely open,” said CDU MP Michael Brand, one of the initiators of the countermotion.

The German Social Association welcomed the initiative for a new regulation. SoVD board chairwoman Michaela Engelmeier told the Düsseldorf-based “Rheinische Post” (Thursday) that thousands of people were waiting for a life-saving organ. “And each of us can be on the waiting list tomorrow,” she added. It is therefore “good that the debate is now picking up speed again thanks to the impulse from parliamentarians”.