Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are reintroducing a bill that, if passed, would have the American government take action against Communist China’s organ harvesting atrocities, particularly those committed against adherents of the persecuted faith group Falun Gong.
The effort to have the Falun Gong Protection Act passed this year is being led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA). Co-sponsoring U.S. senators include Ron Johnson (R-WI), Rick Scott (R-FL), and Thom Tillis (R-NC), while Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), is joining Perry to support the Act in the House.
Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual practice with tens of millions of adherents. It has been subjected to severe repression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1999. Millions have been arrested in contravention of their rights to freedom of belief, with many tortured, made to perform forced labor, or killed.
Since the early 2000s, human rights researchers and whistleblowers from within the Chinese medical community have alleged that the country’s organ transplant industry relies heavily on organs extracting from non-consenting prisoners, the bulk of whom were Falun Gong practitioners.
“China’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners is an attack on religious freedom and human rights,” Cruz told The Epoch Times, as reported by the outlet on Monday, March 3.
“It’s long past time to dismantle the CCP’s state-sponsored organ harvesting industry,” he continued, adding that he hopes his colleagues will join him in countering the abuses and “ensuring the CCP is held accountable.”
As more evidence of the atrocity comes to light, awareness of it is prompting various authorities to condemn the CCP’s acts.
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The Falun Gong Protection Act passed the House in 2024, but did not make it to a Senate vote before the year’s end, necessitating its reintroduction this year.
If signed into law, the Act would require the U.S. government to impose sanctions on anyone the U.S. president deems a knowing participant in or accomplice to the CCP’s forced organ harvesting. Convicted violators could also face hefty fines and prison terms.
Pat Ryan, the New York congressman, told The Epoch Times that the Act was a “huge step” towards holding “CCP malign actors and organ traffickers accountable for their unspeakable crimes,” and that he would “continue to speak out unwaveringly against the restriction of human rights and the persecution of religious groups, wherever they occur.”
The Falun Gong Protection Act would also direct the U.S. government to avoid cooperation with China’s organ transplant industry as long as the Communist Party remains in power, as well as to highlight the persecution of Falun Gong.
