Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas House Bill HR10 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	87R3077 BPG-D
2	2	By: Shaheen H.R. No. 10
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5	5	R E S O L U T I O N
6	6	WHEREAS, For the better part of two decades, China's
7	7	communist regime has been engaged in the vile practice of forcibly
8	8	removing human organs for transplant; and
9	9	WHEREAS, In June 2019, the independent China Tribunal
10	10	announced its finding that China's regime had for decades practiced
11	11	systematic forced organ removal from prisoners of conscience; it is
12	12	believed that organs have been harvested from hundreds of thousands
13	13	of incarcerated people, mainly Falun Gong practitioners, but
14	14	possibly also Tibetan Buddhists, House Church Christians, and
15	15	members of the Uyghur Muslim ethnic minority; and
16	16	WHEREAS, China has welcomed an influx of "transplant
17	17	tourism," whereby individuals critically in need of transplants pay
18	18	thousands of dollars for one of 60,000 to 90,000 transplant
19	19	surgeries conducted each year; the number of transplants far
20	20	exceeds the number of voluntary organ donations in the country;
21	21	moreover, Chinese hospitals are able to schedule transplants of
22	22	major organs within two weeks, suggesting nefarious foreknowledge
23	23	regarding the "donation" of these organs; by contrast, America's
24	24	highly developed organ donation system requires that recipients be
25	25	placed on a carefully curated list to await the transplant of an
26	26	organ; the timing of these transplants is not predictable, as an
27	27	organ may not be available for hundreds of days, or in time for a
28	28	specific patient; and
29	29	WHEREAS, Falun Gong, a spiritual practice centered on the
30	30	values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, became
31	31	immensely popular in the 1990s; in July 1999, the Chinese Communist
32	32	Party launched an intensive, nationwide persecution designed to
33	33	eradicate the spiritual practice; Freedom House reported in 2015
34	34	that Falun Gong practitioners are the primary victims of forced
35	35	organ removal and face an elevated risk of dying or being killed in
36	36	custody; and
37	37	WHEREAS, On July 20, 2020, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
38	38	denounced 21 years of persecution of Falun Gong by China's
39	39	communist regime, declaring in a press statement: "We call on the
40	40	PRC government to immediately end its depraved abuse and
41	41	mistreatment of Falun Gong practitioners, release those imprisoned
42	42	due to their beliefs, [. . .] and address the whereabouts of
43	43	missing practitioners. Twenty-one years of persecution of Falun
44	44	Gong practitioners is far too long, and it must end"; and
45	45	WHEREAS, United Nations Special Rapporteurs have called on
46	46	the Chinese government to account for the sources of organs used in
47	47	transplant practices, and the World Medical Association, the
48	48	American Society of Transplantation, and the Transplantation
49	49	Society have all called for sanctions on Chinese medical
50	50	authorities; resolutions condemning organ harvesting from
51	51	prisoners of conscience have been adopted by the parliaments of
52	52	Canada and the European Union, as well as by the Foreign Affairs
53	53	Committee of the United States House of Representatives, and it is
54	54	important to join the international outcry against this major
55	55	violation of human rights; now, therefore, be it
56	56	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 87th Texas
57	57	Legislature hereby strongly condemn China's practice of
58	58	involuntary organ harvesting; and, be it further
59	59	RESOLVED, That the Texas House of Representatives encourage
60	60	the medical community to educate Texans about the risks of travel to
61	61	China for organ transplants to help prevent Texas residents from
62	62	unwittingly becoming involved in murder in the form of forced organ
63	63	harvesting from prisoners of conscience; and, be it further
64	64	RESOLVED, That the Texas House of Representatives
65	65	respectfully urge the United States Congress and the president of
66	66	the United States to pass laws and adopt measures prohibiting
67	67	collaboration between U.S. medical and pharmaceutical companies
68	68	and any Chinese counterparts linked with forced organ harvesting,
69	69	banning entry into the United States of those who have participated
70	70	in unethical removal of human tissues and organs, and providing for
71	71	the prosecution of such individuals.