07-05-2025
House Overwhelmingly Passes Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act
The House voted 406–1 to pass a measure aimed at punishing perpetrators of state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting in China, paving the way for holding accountable those involved in the systematic killing of innocents for profit.
The Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act (
The act would sanction anyone implicated in the abuse, including members of the Chinese Communist Party, blocking their property and barring them from engaging in U.S. transactions. Such individuals would also see their visas revoked and lose other immigration benefits.
Under the legislation, those involved in forced organ harvesting would also face a civil fine of $250,000 maximum, and for those engaging in the act willfully, a criminal penalty that goes up to $1,000,000 and a potential 20 years in prison.
'We need a penalty that's commensurate with the crime and the crime is outrageous,' Smith told The Epoch Times ahead of the vote.
The president would submit a list of individuals who fund, sponsor, or facilitate the abuse in other ways to the appropriate congressional committee within 180 days of the act's enactment.
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The bill would also require a report assessing, in each foreign country, forced organ harvesting and trafficking in persons for that purpose. The latter refers to acts of coercion, abduction, deception, fraud, abuse of power or a position of vulnerability, or transactional exchange to exert control over a targeted person.
If enacted into law, the act would make it a U.S. policy to combat the illicit act, promote the establishment of voluntary organ donation systems with effective enforcement mechanisms in bilateral talks and international health forums, and promote the dignity and security of human life in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Smith said the bill sends a message to anyone who tries to get an organ without caring about where it's coming from.
'You're going to pay a huge huge penalty for it,' he said.
He added that the bill will also help make sure that all parts of the U.S. government are 'very well aware of this horrific reality.'
'It has been stealth. There's been a cover-up for far too many years by many of the China hands—the people that work on K Street and just talk about trade, trade, trade,' he said. 'I'm for trade as long as it's principled and based on human rights.'
The forced organ harvesting industry saw a boom starting from 2000, as the regime began a full-scale campaign to persecute the popular faith group Falun Gong, which by then had 70 million to 100 million estimated followers. In 2019, a London-based people's tribunal concluded that forced organ harvesting has happened on a '
'The Chinese Communist Party remains one of the most serious threats to human rights,' said Mark Yang, advocacy officer for Falun Dafa Information Center, in a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
Mark Yang, Falun Dafa Information Center advocacy officer and a policy analyst on China at Horizon Engage, speaks about the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act passed by the House, on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 7, 2025.
Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times
The act's passage on Wednesday makes it the
It had received
