Rubio Proposes Legislation to Protect Falun Gong Practitioners from CCP’s Organ Harvesting Efforts

July 31, 2024 TruthUSA

Senators are taking decisive action to address Beijing’s state-sanctioned persecution and forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has introduced a bill aimed at deterring the Chinese regime’s state-sanctioned killing of Falun Gong practitioners for their organs.

The Falun Gong Protection Act, introduced to the Senate on July 31, would establish U.S. policy to avoid cooperation with China in the organ transplantation field and compel Beijing to cease any state-sponsored organ harvesting campaign.

Under this measure, the U.S. president would be required to provide relevant congressional committees with a list of foreign individuals identified as having knowingly and directly participated in or facilitated the involuntary harvesting of organs within the People’s Republic of China.

Individuals on this list would face sanctions preventing them from entering the United States or engaging in U.S.-based transactions. Any visas they currently hold would be revoked. The bill also specifies a civil penalty of up to $250,000, along with a criminal penalty of $1 million and 20 years in prison for offenders.

Within one year of the bill becoming law, the Secretaries of the State Department and Health and Human Services, along with the Director of the National Institutes of Health, would be mandated to issue a report on organ transplant practices in China, particularly regarding Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience.

These officials would also need to submit a list of U.S. grants that have supported organ transplantation in China over the previous decade. Additionally, they would be tasked with determining whether the persecution of Falun Gong qualifies as an “atrocity” under the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018.

Cosponsors of the Senate bill include Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).

The House passed a companion version of the bill in June, led by Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and 18 other lawmakers.

If approved by the Senate and signed into law, this bill would become the first federal legislation to challenge China’s persecution and illegal organ trade against Falun Gong practitioners.

This legislation was introduced shortly after the spiritual group commemorated 25 years of persecution in communist China. Falun Gong, known for its meditation and teachings centered on truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, was widely popular in China during the 1990s with an estimated following of 70 to 100 million people. However, since July 1999, the group has been the target of an extensive campaign by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to suppress them, involving imprisonment, torture, forced labor, and forced organ harvesting.

Rubio presented the bill as part of a comprehensive strategy to counter the influence of communist China. Two additional legislative proposals include the Stop CCP Act, which sanctions CCP officials and their adult family members for acts of aggression, oppression, and human rights abuses.

“Communist China has been perpetrating a widespread campaign of evil,” Rubio stated. “From committing genocide against religious and ethnic groups, to enforcing forced sterilization and abortions, as well as controlling essential minerals and technologies, and undermining the sovereignty of regional partners, the U.S. will not tolerate these practices.”

Several states have also taken steps to combat organ harvesting. Since June 2023, Texas, Utah, and Idaho have passed laws to prevent insurance coverage for transplant surgeries if the organs are sourced from China.

This issue has also garnered international attention, with a dozen human rights experts affiliated with the United Nations expressing “extreme alarm” over reports of forced organ harvesting targeting minorities including Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Muslims, and Christians detained in China.

In 2022, the European Parliament also adopted a resolution expressing “serious concern” about reports of systematic and state-sanctioned organ harvesting from prisoners in China, particularly from Falun Gong practitioners, and suggesting that these actions may constitute crimes against humanity.

The State Department has highlighted forced organ harvesting in multiple recent reports.

Just two days after the House approved the Falun Gong Protection Act, a State Department spokesperson urged the CCP to permit “independent and transparent investigations into the country’s organ transplantation system” and invited independent observers to verify the accuracy of these reports.

The spokesperson emphasized that the regime must “halt its abhorrent actions against prisoners of conscience and adhere to its human rights obligations by fully complying with all relevant medical and ethical standards and best practices, including prioritizing patient well-being, obtaining informed consent, and respecting human dignity,” as reported by NTD, The Epoch Times’ sister media outlet.

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