The House of Representatives delivered a lopsided 406-1 vote on Wednesday, May 7, approving the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act (H.R. 1503).
The vote puts fresh bipartisan muscle behind efforts to confront China’s state-sanctioned organ trade. The measure now heads to the Senate, where a similar bill stalled last Congress.
Authored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and co-sponsored by Rep. William Keating (D-MA), the bill slaps visa bans, property blocks, and stiff financial penalties—up to $1 million in fines and 20 years behind bars—on anyone who funds, facilitates, or profits from coerced organ removal.
“We need a penalty that’s commensurate with the crime, and the crime is outrageous,” Smith told reporters before the vote.
Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-FL) framed the vote as a moral test for Washington. “The human body is not a commodity. Forced organ harvesting is pure evil, and if we don’t act, we are considered complicit,” he said during floor debate.
Researchers and human-rights investigators have long warned that China’s communist regime targets prisoners of conscience—Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghur Muslims, and underground Christians—for involuntary organ removal. Smith cited findings that an estimated 25,000–50,000 people a year were killed for their organs between 2014 and 2018 alone.
Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie cast the lone “no” vote, echoing his 2023 opposition when only he and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene dissented. Every other Republican and nearly all Democrats backed the measure, underscoring broad support for confronting Beijing’s abuses.
Besides sanctions, the act orders the president to present Congress with a list of perpetrators within 180 days. It also directs the State Department to beef up its annual Trafficking in Persons report to track organ harvesting worldwide.
With the House once again on record, attention shifts to the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. Supporters argue swift action would dovetail with Donald Trump’s hard-line stance on the Chinese Communist Party and reinforce America’s commitment to “promote the dignity and security of human life” abroad.