U.S. Lawmakers Introduce Legislation to Combat China’s Forced Organ Harvesting

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has introduced legislation in both the Senate and the House to stop China’s state-sanctioned practice of harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience.

“Organ harvesting is an egregiously barbaric and inhumane act that has no place in our world,” stated Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), the prime sponsor of the House bill, according to a March 9 statement from his office.

“We must do more to put an end to the horrific abuse by international human trafficking gangs, terrorist organizations, and even some governments—China’s Communist regime in particular—who kill innocent people and sell their organs for profit,” Smith added.

He added, “Our legislation would empower the U.S. State Department to identify and expose organ harvesters and traffickers across the world with the goal of punishing perpetrators through effective sanctions and travel restrictions.”

The legislation, the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act, would authorize the U.S. government to deny or revoke passports for people who engage in the illegal purchase of organs.

Under Section 301 of the National Organ Transplant Act, the commercialism and private sale of human organs are banned.

China has been one of the top destinations for transplant tourism, while Beijing has promoted its narrative in U.S. newspapers that organs are sourced from voluntary donations. The Chinese regime announced that it would stop sourcing organs from executed prisoners starting on Jan. 1, 2015, and claimed that it would executively rely on a new system of voluntary donations.

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