(Clearwisdom.net) On April 19, 2006, the Illinois House of Representatives passed a resolution strongly condemning the practice of harvesting organs from living prisoners for transplants. The resolution called upon the Chinese Communist Party to stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. The Resolution was jointly sponsored by 24 House Representatives. The Representatives recommended to President Bush that he should discuss with Hu Jintao the harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners when President Bush met the head of the Chinese Communist Party in April.

Below is the text of the Resolution.

State of Illinois
Ninety-Fourth General Assembly
House of Representatives

Offered by Representative Arthur L. Turner-Patricia, Reid Lindner-Mary, E. Flowers-Kurt, M. Granberg, Barbara Flynn Currie, Mike Boland, Patricia R. Bellock, Kathleen A. Ryg, Daniel J. Burke, Marlow H. Colvin, Calvin L. Giles, Jay C. Hoffman, Constance A. Howard, Renee Kosel, Bill Mitchell, Raymond Poe, Dan Reitz, Aaron Schock, Michael K. Smith, Cynthia Soto, Tom Cross, Linda Chapa LaVia, Robin Kelly and Michael Tryon

Whereas, Falun Gong is a peaceful and nonviolent form of personal belief with million of adherents in China and elsewhere; and

Whereas, Falun Gong has been persecuted for 6 years by the Chinese Communist Party, as documented by the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and many other governmental and third party organizations; and

Whereas, This persecution of the Falun Gong has involved the widespread use of torture; and

Whereas, The Chinese Communist authority is persecuting Falun Gong practitioners with this policy: "Defame their reputation, bankrupt them financially, destroy them physically"; and

Whereas, Over 2,800 Falun Gong practitioners have died from documented abuse, and some of their bodies were missing internal organs; and

Whereas, In Sujiatun, a suburb of the Chinese city of Shenyang, thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are held in a prison camp contrary to the laws of China and in violation of their human rights; and

Whereas, The Sujiatun prison camp is adjacent to a complex that contains 3 hospitals; and

Whereas, In the prison at Sujiatun the organs of Falun Gong adherents are harvested while they are alive, and their bodies are immediately cremated; and

Whereas, The harvested organs are then used by the hospitals associated with the prison for transplants, with the customer for these transplants often being individuals from the United States; and

Whereas, A witness, who worked at one of these hospitals and whose ex-husband, a surgeon, helped perform the organ harvesting, estimates that 4,000 Falun Gong practitioners have died in the past 5 years through this organ harvesting; and

Whereas, Chinese President Hu Jintao will make an official visit to the United States in April 2006; therefore, be it

Resolved, By The House of Representatives of The Ninety-Fourth General Assembly of The State of Illinois, that we call upon the Chinese Communist Party to stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners; and be it further

Resolved, That we urge the United States government to investigate organ transplants in China and take all reasonable steps to bring an end to the revolting practice of harvesting organs from living prisoners for transplants; and be it further

Resolved, That we recommend to President Bush that he should discuss with Hu Jintao the harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners when President Bush meets the head of the Chinese Communist Party in April; and be it further

Resolved, That we call upon the United States government to prohibit any doctors who performed transplants using organs harvested from living prisoners, such as those at Sujiatun prison, from gaining entry into the United States; and be it further

Resolved, That we call upon the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Amnesty International, or other human rights organizations to each begin an investigation into these atrocities and provide a copy of its investigative report to the United States Congress and to the General Assembly; and be it further

Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be presented to the Falun Gong practitioners of Illinois and that a copy of this resolution be delivered to the President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Amnesty International.

Adopted by the House of Representatives on April 19, 2006.

Michael J. Madigan, Speaker of the House

Mark Mahoney, Clerk of the House