(Minghui.org) The governor of Texas on June 7 signed Senate Concurrent Resolution 3 (SCR3), “Condemning China’s practice of involuntary organ harvesting.”
The resolution was introduced in the state Senate in January this year. It was approved in the Senate in April, and in the House of Representatives in May.
“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,” wrote the resolution, which also lists numerous evidence of the forced organ harvesting, and urges the U.S. government and international community to stop this atrocity. It also encourages the medical community to raise awareness of the forced organ harvesting so that Texans will not unwittingly commit such a crime by engaging in transplant tourism in China.
The resolution drew wide attention from people across the state who care about the human rights abuses in China. Nine media in four metropolitan areas, including Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin have reported on this resolution.
The Katy Times: “Stop Organ Harvesting”
On July 18, 2021, The Katy Times in Houston published a letter to the editor from Wendy Yang, who thanked her state representatives for co-sponsoring and voting in favor of the resolution.
Ms. Yang said that she was a university student living in China in 1996. She suffered a serious lung disease and had to visit the hospital weekly. At the recommendation of a friend, she began to practice Falun Gong. A month later, the disease was cured and her relationship with others became more harmonious.
Ms. Yang said countless practitioners have similar stories like hers, and it was estimated that as many as 100 million Chinese were practicing Falun Gong, making it a very popular qigong practice in China. “Unfortunately, because of the immense popularity and spiritual nature of Falun Gong, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) considered it a target to be eliminated, and in July of 1999, initiated a brutal persecution to eradicate the practice.”
To raise awareness about the persecution, she went to Tiananmen Square in 2000, publicly sat in meditation, and handed out materials with information clarifying the propaganda. She also went to a detention center to request the release of a friend who had been jailed for practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Yang was detained four times between October 1999 and June 2007. The authorities tried to pressure her to give up Falun Gong through torture and brainwashing. She was also forced to do labor for over ten hours a day without pay. When she was three months pregnant, her husband was also arrested, and their son didn’t get to see him until he was one year old.
Ms. Yang pointed out that the persecution went hand in hand with an explosion of organ transplantation in China, even though China doesn’t have an established organ donation system. “Hospital websites were advertising the sale of human organs with wait times as short as two weeks, and China became a destination for transplant tourism. Investigators have concluded that organs were being sourced from Falun Gong prisoners of conscience,” she said.
She and her family immigrated to the U.S. in 2008. While they survived the persecution and were fortunate to come to the free land of the U.S., there are still many prisoners of conscience facing extreme danger in China.
“The efforts of the Texas State Legislature to confront the issue of forced organ harvesting are meaningful and important to Texas residents.” She said she personally knew over ten Falun Gong practitioners living in the greater Houston area who have been persecuted in China, with some of them having undergone forced blood draws and unusual physical examinations, very likely for organ matching.
“SCR3 is part of a global effort to expose transplant abuse in China. As a survivor of persecution in China, I am happy to see this trend. It is important for our medical communities and residents to be aware of organ harvesting and the risks of transplant tourism. No one should become an unwitting accomplice in this crime against humanity,” she concluded.
La Prensa: Exposing Forced Organ Harvesting is Important for All of Humanity
La Prensa, the oldest English and Spanish newspaper, published a letter from Lisette Alamo on July 1, 2021.
Ms. Alamo thanked the Texas State Legislature for passing the resolution. She said that, as noted in SCR3, even with the US’s well-developed system for organ donation, the wait time for a compatible organ can take hundreds of days. However, transplant centers in China can schedule transplant surgery within two weeks, which points to the dark secret behind the so-called “voluntary donation” of these organs.
She added that she came from Puerto Rico and is currently practicing Falun Gong herself. She is well aware of the plight of people of all faiths in China. Among her friends, there are also courageous survivors of the persecution in China. “It is encouraging to see the Texas State Legislature takes on this serious problem. Tackling the problem of forced organ harvesting is important not just to Texans, but to all of humanity,” she said.
The Dallas Morning News: “Raising Awareness of Organ Harvesting”
After a report by The Dallas Morning News on June 1, 2021, about the resolution passing, another letter to the editor was published, from Shirley Hu, thanking State Sen. Angela Paxton and State Rep. Matt Shaheen for penning and introducing the resolution. She also applauded the support from all Texas lawmakers.
“The Senate resolution brings public awareness of this crime against humanity. The more that people know about this, the less likely they will become unwitting accomplices to the heinous crime,” Ms. Hu said.
Austin American-Statesman: Almost Becoming a Victim to Organ Harvesting
Austin American-Statesman, the major daily newspaper in Austin, published a letter on June 16 from local resident William Yu. He thanked lawmakers for passing SCR3, saying, “The right to seek treatment through transplantation must not be traded for another person’s right to life.”
William’s father, Mr. Yu Xinhui, was one of the witnesses who testified at the legislative hearing. Because of practicing Falun Gong, the elder Mr. Yu was sentenced to six years in prison, where he was tortured. “While there, he underwent physical examinations and blood tests that were obviously not for his health, since he was also tortured, but were consistent with organ matching,” wrote William.
In his testimony, the elder Mr. Yu said that many inmates knew of organ harvesting and guards often used it to threaten inmates who disobeyed orders. One doctor in the prison was from the same town as Mr. Yu and he confirmed that Falun Gong practitioners are very healthy and their organs are the best. Inmates were often on drugs or were alcoholics, making their organs often unsuitable. The doctor also implied that were Mr. Yu to not give up practicing Falun Gong, his internal organs could be taken for transplant, including his heart, liver, spleen, and lungs.
At the end of his testimony, Mr. Yu expressed hope that more people would help stop the crime of organ harvesting, so that innocent lives can be saved.
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