Texas Senators Hear Witness Testimonies on Organ Harvesting in China

Witnesses testified at the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee in favor of proposed legislation that would prohibit health benefit plans from paying for vital organs originating in China, where forced organ harvesting occurs.

The bill, known as Senate Bill 1040, is sponsored by Republican state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst. A similar House version of the bill has been referred to the Public Health Committee.

Several guests shared their testimony about China’s ruling communist party (CCP) forcibly taking organs from prisoners of conscience. Falun Gong practitioner Crystal Chen of Houston shared her experience of being persecuted and tortured in China for her beliefs. She and other Falun Gong believers were subjected to medical tests, including blood tests and EKGs, to establish a massive organ-matching database which enables the CCP to promise those with the financial resources short waiting times for vital organ transplants.

Dr. Howard Monsour, former medical director of the liver transplant program at the University of Texas Houston and former chief of hepatology at Methodist Hospital, also testified before the committee. He recounted a patient who went to China to seek a liver transplant and “ultimately died” because of the disease’s advanced stage. Monsour said he later learned that China was “taking these prisoners and doing blood tests to find out what their matches are” and described in detail how the organs were harvested.

On Monday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2023, the first non-symbolic measure to punish the CCP for its atrocities against the people of China, by a vote of 413-2.

The next step for Senate Bill 1040 is for the Health and Human Services Committee to hear public testimony.