House Overwhelmingly Passes Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act

‘We need a penalty that’s commensurate with the crime and the crime is outrageous,’ said lead sponsor Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.)

The House voted 406–1 to pass a measure aimed at punishing perpetrators of state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting in China.

The Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act (HR 1503), led by Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and William Keating (D-Mass.), takes aim at the organ transplant abuse and the trafficking of people for that purpose.

The act would sanction anyone implicated in the abuse, including members of the Chinese Communist Party, blocking their property and barring them from engaging in U.S. transactions. Such individuals would also have their visas revoked and lose other immigration benefits.

Under the legislation, those involved in forced organ harvesting would also face a maximum civil fine of $250,000, and for those engaging in the act willfully, a criminal penalty of up to $1 million and 20 years in prison.

“We need a penalty that's commensurate with the crime and the crime is outrageous,” Smith told The Epoch Times ahead of the vote.

The bill would require the president to submit a list of individuals who fund, sponsor, or facilitate the abuse in other ways to the appropriate congressional committee within 180 days of enactment.

The bill would also require an assessment on each foreign country regarding forced organ harvesting and trafficking in persons. The latter refers to acts of coercion, abduction, deception, fraud, abuse of power or a position of vulnerability, or transactional exchange to exert control over a targeted person.

If enacted into law, the act would make it a U.S. policy to combat the illicit act, promote the establishment of voluntary organ donation systems with effective enforcement mechanisms in bilateral talks and international health forums, and promote the dignity and security of human life in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Smith said the bill sends a message to anyone who tries to get an organ without caring about its origin.

“You're going to pay a huge huge penalty for it,” he said.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, speaks about the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act passed by the House, on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 7, 2025.

He added that the bill will also help make sure that all parts of the U.S. government are “very well aware of this horrific reality.”

“It has been stealth. There's been a cover-up for far too many years by many of the China hands—the people that work on K Street and just talk about trade, trade, trade,” he said. “I'm for trade as long as it's principled and based on human rights.”

The forced organ harvesting industry saw a boom starting from 2000, as the regime began a full-scale campaign to persecute the popular faith group Falun Gong, which by then had 70 million to 100 million estimated followers. In 2019, a London-based people’s tribunal concluded that forced organ harvesting has happened on a “significant scale,” targeting primarily Falun Gong practitioners, with Uyghurs, who face continued mass detention and forced labor in Xinjiang, next at risk of becoming a live organ bank.

“The Chinese Communist Party remains one of the most serious threats to human rights,” said Mark Yang, advocacy officer for Falun Dafa Information Center, in a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

Mark Yang, Falun Dafa Information Center advocacy officer and a policy analyst on China at Horizon Engage, speaks about the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act passed by the House, on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 7, 2025.

The passage of the act on Wednesday makes it the second bill in a week that the House has approved to counter the ongoing abuse in China. The first bill, The Falun Gong Protection Act, passed by voice vote with no dissent on May 5.

The anti-organ harvesting bill had received overwhelming support when Smith first brought it into the House in 2023, passing the legislative chamber 413–2 that March. The bill failed to progress in the Senate.