A House-passed bill targeting the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) forced organ harvesting of cultural and religious minorities — including Christians — has stalled in the Senate, drawing sharp criticism from Republican lawmakers who call the practice “murder masquerading as medicine.” The stalled legislation, known as the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2025, passed the House overwhelmingly but remains in committee with no hearing scheduled.
Republican Rep. Christopher Smith of New Jersey, sponsor of H.R. 1503, says the bill aims to confront the CCP’s gruesome organ harvesting system that has targeted Falun Gong practitioners and other minorities for decades. Smith’s previous version of the bill also passed the House but died in the same Senate committee.
Smith and human rights advocates describe the CCP’s organ harvesting as systematic and brutal. Forced organ removal from prisoners of conscience — initially Falun Gong practitioners — grew into a lucrative operation following Beijing’s 1999 crackdown on the spiritual movement. Independent researchers and human rights groups have documented allegations that healthy prisoners are executed so their organs can be sold for transplant.
While precise data is difficult to confirm due to Chinese government opacity, human rights reports indicate China’s organ transplant system operates outside global transparency norms and has performed far more transplants than can be explained by voluntary donors or death-row executions. These concerns have spurred U.S. lawmakers to act.
Smith warns that as stocks of Falun Gong and Uyghur victims diminish, Christians and other groups could be increasingly targeted because their generally good health makes them “commodities” in the CCP’s expansion of the practice.
H.R. 1503 would impose stricter penalties on those who participate in or facilitate the global organ trade, including transplant tourism that fuels demand. The bill proposes criminal penalties, asset freezes, travel bans, and sanctions against foreign actors involved in forced organ harvesting and anyone in the U.S. who aids the illicit market.
The legislation passed the House by a nearly unanimous vote of 406-1, reflecting bipartisan concern over the human rights abuse. However, the bill has languished in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Republican Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, with no scheduled markup or committee hearing. Committee staff stated Risch supports countering organ harvesting but has not advanced this specific bill.
Smith continues to pressure Senate leaders to act, arguing that without legislative action the CCP will continue and expand forced organ harvesting worldwide. He asserts the bill would send a global message that organ trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable groups will face severe legal consequences.
