Sen. Cruz Introduces Legislation to Dismantle China’s State-Sponsored Organ Harvesting Industry and Human Rights Abuses

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced the Falun Gong Protection Act. This bill would require sanctions on those responsible for or complicit in the involuntary harvesting of organs and also require the Secretary of State to report to Congress on organ transplant policies and practices of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP continues to engage in these atrocities, including against Falun Gong practitioners.

Upon introduction, Sen. Cruz said, “China's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners is an attack on religious freedom and human rights. It’s long past time to dismantle the CCP’s state-sponsored organ harvesting industry. I urge my colleagues to join me in countering these human rights violations and ensuring the CCP is held accountable.”

Rep. Perry said, “The United States, as the beacon of freedom around the world, cannot be silent when the Chinese Community Party is engaged in systemic torturing, incarceration, and forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners. The CCP and its enablers must be held accountable for these atrocities.”

The legislation was co-sponsored by Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)

Parallel legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.-10).

Read the bill text here.

BACKGROUND

Falun Gong is a religious movement founded in the early 1990s by Li Hongzhi in China, which grew rapidly throughout the 1990s.

The CCP outlawed the movement in 1999 and sought to eliminate Falun Gong activity. The CCP has conducted mass arrests and torture of Falun Gong practitioners and detained thousands of practitioners in labor camps, subjecting some to forced organ harvesting. Those harvested organs are used in transplants within China and are trafficked overseas.