Bill Text: OH HR501 | 2013-2014 | 130th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: To express concern over persistent and credible
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2014-10-27 - Adopted [HR501 Detail]
Download: Ohio-2013-HR501-Introduced.html
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Representatives Stinziano, Curtin
| To express concern over persistent and credible | 1 |
| reports of systematic state-sanctioned organ | 2 |
| harvesting from non-consenting prisoners of | 3 |
| conscience in the People's Republic of China. | 4 |
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
| WHEREAS, When performed in accordance with ethical standards, | 5 |
| the medical discipline of organ transplantation is one of the | 6 |
| great achievements of modern medicine. Voluntary and informed | 7 |
| consent is the precondition for ethical organ donation and | 8 |
| international medical organizations state that prisoners, deprived | 9 |
| of their freedom, are not in the position to give free consent and | 10 |
| that the practice of sourcing organs from prisoners is a violation | 11 |
| of ethical guidelines in medicine; and | 12 |
| WHEREAS, Surgeons in the People's Republic of China perform | 13 |
| more than 10,000 organ transplantations each year. Although | 14 |
| China's organ transplantation system continues to evolve, the | 15 |
| system does not comply with the World Health Organization's | 16 |
| requirement of transparency and traceability in organ procurement | 17 |
| pathways. The Chinese government has resisted independent scrutiny | 18 |
| of its system; and | 19 |
| WHEREAS, In July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party launched | 20 |
| an intensive nationwide persecution designed to eradicate the | 21 |
| spiritual practice of Falun Gong, reflecting the party's | 22 |
| long-standing intolerance of large independent civil society | 23 |
| groups. Since 1999, hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong | 24 |
| practitioners have been detained extra-legally and many have been | 25 |
| tortured and abused; and | 26 |
| WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of State's 2011 Country Report | 27 |
| on Human Rights for the People's Republic of China stated, in | 28 |
| part, "Overseas and domestic media and advocacy groups continued | 29 |
| to report instances of organ harvesting, particularly from Falun | 30 |
| Gong practitioners and Uighurs;" and | 31 |
| WHEREAS, The U.N. Committee Against Torture and the U.N. | 32 |
| Special Rapporteur on Torture have expressed concern over the | 33 |
| allegations of organ harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners and have | 34 |
| called on the Chinese government to increase accountability and | 35 |
| transparency in the organ transplant system and punish those | 36 |
| responsible for abuses; and | 37 |
| WHEREAS, In September 2012, experts testified before the U.S. | 38 |
| House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs that | 39 |
| American patients travel to the People's Republic of China for | 40 |
| organ transplants and that the American medical community | 41 |
| continues to cooperate and train with Chinese colleagues, creating | 42 |
| a risk that both American patients and medical community may be | 43 |
| indirectly aiding abusive practices; now therefore be it | 44 |
| RESOLVED, That we, the members of the House of | 45 |
| Representatives of the 130th General Assembly of the State of | 46 |
| Ohio: | 47 |
| -- Call on the government of the People's Republic of China | 48 |
| to immediately end the practice of organ harvesting from all | 49 |
| prisoners, particularly from Falun Gong prisoners of conscience | 50 |
| and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups; | 51 |
| -- Call for a full and transparent investigation by the U.S. | 52 |
| Department of State into organ transplant practices in the | 53 |
| People's Republic of China, and call for the prosecution of those | 54 |
| found to have engaged in unethical practices; | 55 |
| -- Recommend that the U.S. Department of State issue a travel | 56 |
| warning for American citizens traveling to the People's Republic | 57 |
| of China for organ transplants informing them that the organ | 58 |
| source for their operation may be a prisoner of conscience; | 59 |
| -- Recommend that the U.S. government publicly condemn organ | 60 |
| transplantation abuses in China and ban the entry of those who | 61 |
| have participated in illegal removal of human tissues and organs | 62 |
| and prosecute such individuals if found on U.S. soil; | 63 |
| -- Demand an immediate end to the 14-year persecution of the | 64 |
| Falun Gong spiritual practice by the Communist Party of China and | 65 |
| the immediate release of all Falun Gong practitioners and other | 66 |
| prisoners of conscience; and be it further | 67 |
| RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the House of Representatives send | 68 |
| duly authenticated copies of this resolution to the U.S. Secretary | 69 |
| of State, the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in | 70 |
| Washington, D.C., the Speaker and Clerk of the U.S. House of | 71 |
| Representatives, the President Pro Tempore and the Secretary of | 72 |
| the U.S. Senate, the members of the Ohio Congressional delegation, | 73 |
| and the news media of Ohio. | 74 |
