Bill Text: TX SCR3 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Condemning China's practice of involuntary organ harvesting.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 18-5)

Status: (Passed) 2021-06-07 - Signed by the Governor [SCR3 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-SCR3-Introduced.html
  87R4959 CJM-D
 
  By: Paxton, Campbell, Kolkhorst S.C.R. No. 3
 
 
 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
         WHEREAS, For the better part of two decades, China's
  communist regime has been engaged in the vile practice of forcibly
  removing human organs for transplant; and
         WHEREAS, In June 2019, the independent China Tribunal
  announced its finding that China's regime had for decades practiced
  systematic forced organ removal from prisoners of conscience; it is
  believed that organs have been harvested from hundreds of thousands
  of incarcerated people, mainly Falun Gong practitioners, but
  possibly also Tibetan Buddhists, House Church Christians, and
  members of the Uyghur Muslim ethnic minority; and
         WHEREAS, China has welcomed an influx of "transplant
  tourism," whereby individuals critically in need of transplants pay
  thousands of dollars for one of 60,000 to 90,000 transplant
  surgeries conducted each year; the number of transplants far
  exceeds the number of voluntary organ donations in the country;
  moreover, Chinese hospitals are able to schedule transplants of
  major organs within two weeks, suggesting nefarious foreknowledge
  regarding the "donation" of these organs; by contrast, America's
  highly developed organ donation system requires that recipients be
  placed on a carefully curated list to await the transplant of an
  organ; the timing of these transplants is not predictable, as an
  organ may not be available for hundreds of days, or in time for a
  specific patient; and
         WHEREAS, Falun Gong, a spiritual practice centered on the
  values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, became
  immensely popular in the 1990s; in July 1999, the Chinese Communist
  Party launched an intensive, nationwide persecution designed to
  eradicate the spiritual practice; Freedom House reported in 2015
  that Falun Gong practitioners are the primary victims of forced
  organ removal and face an elevated risk of dying or being killed in
  custody; and
         WHEREAS, On July 20, 2020, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
  denounced 21 years of persecution of Falun Gong by China's
  communist regime, declaring in a press statement: "We call on the
  PRC government to immediately end its depraved abuse and
  mistreatment of Falun Gong practitioners, release those imprisoned
  due to their beliefs, [. . .] and address the whereabouts of
  missing practitioners. Twenty-one years of persecution of Falun
  Gong practitioners is far too long, and it must end"; and
         WHEREAS, United Nations Special Rapporteurs have called on
  the Chinese government to account for the sources of organs used in
  transplant practices, and the World Medical Association, the
  American Society of Transplantation, and the Transplantation
  Society have all called for sanctions on Chinese medical
  authorities; resolutions condemning organ harvesting from
  prisoners of conscience have been adopted by the parliaments of
  Canada and the European Union, as well as by the Foreign Affairs
  Committee of the United States House of Representatives, and it is
  important to join the international outcry against this major
  violation of human rights; now, therefore, be it
         RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas
  hereby strongly condemn China's practice of involuntary organ
  harvesting; and, be it further
         RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas
  encourage the medical community to educate Texans about the risks
  of travel to China for organ transplants to help prevent Texas
  residents from unwittingly becoming involved in murder in the form
  of forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience; and, be it
  further
         RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas
  respectfully urge the United States Congress and the president of
  the United States to pass laws and adopt measures prohibiting
  collaboration between U.S. medical and pharmaceutical companies
  and any Chinese counterparts linked with forced organ harvesting,
  banning entry into the United States of those who have participated
  in unethical removal of human tissues and organs, and providing for
  the prosecution of such individuals.
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