Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2025

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1503. I also thank Representatives Smith and Keating for introducing this bill, which, as the chairman mentioned, passed in the 118th Congress. I also thank my colleague and chairman for bringing this and many other important bipartisan bills to the floor today.

According to the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, the trafficking in persons for the purpose of organ removal is one of the least reported and least understood forms of trafficking but one that experts believe may be growing. Like sex trafficking and labor trafficking, it is ultimately a crime that exploits human beings for economic profit.

The State Department's 2023 Human Rights Report highlights troubling allegations regarding the Government of the People's Republic of China forcibly harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience, including religious and spiritual adherents.

Mr. Speaker, I worry deeply about the administration's proposed State Department reorganization plans that will gut the funding and experts working to address these crimes, giving the PRC and others a pass. Instead of these cuts, the administration should be strengthening efforts to address forced organ harvesting and trafficking.

H.R. 1503 shines a light on this horrible practice and calls on the State Department to make its annual reporting on the issue more robust and more in-depth. Not only does it call for more regular assessments of the problem, it also authorizes the imposition of sanctions on individuals who are involved in forced organ harvesting or trafficking.

The legislation will make sure the U.S. is carefully gathering all the facts to make an informed assessment on the magnitude and prevalence of this problem and developing appropriate responses.

The trafficking of persons for the purpose of organ removal is a form of trafficking in which an individual is exploited for their organs, including by coercion, deception, and abuse of a position of vulnerability. It is abhorrent, repugnant, and dehumanizing.

I support this legislation, I urge all of my colleagues to likewise support it again in this Congress, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1503 is an important, bipartisan measure. We know that organ harvesting has been a problem in different places around the globe. We don't know yet the full extent of the problem, and it is certainly a practice that is difficult to detect and track.

The bill before us is a strong and important step forward. It calls on the State Department to provide important information to Congress, to the American public, and to the world about the global scope of organ harvesting and trafficking.

This bill will help inform Congress so that we can ensure the U.S. can respond appropriately.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this measure, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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