(Minghui.org) “This is not just a medical issue, but a battle between good and evil,” said Jennie Sheets, a representative from Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH), in her speech. “If we knew what happened but kept silent, we would fail to fulfill our responsibility to uphold justice.”
The Lehigh Valley Tea Party, headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, invited DAFOH representatives Dr. Jessica Russo and Ms. Jennie Sheets to speak at their meeting on June 4, 2026. They showed the documentary Silent Harvest: The Courage to Speak Up and answered questions afterward.
Dr. Russo and Ms. Sheets talked about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) atrocity of harvesting organs from Falun Gong practitioners while they are still alive, and called on the audience to support practitioners and the Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act (S.4009), which was introduced in the U.S. Senate on March 5, 2026. Many in the audience texted their U.S. senators to ask them to support the bill.
Andrew Azan, chair of the Lehigh Valley Tea Party, said that the event was “most informative” for his members and guests.
Mr. Azan’s great grandfather is from China. “This is pure evil that China does this [forced organ harvesting],” he said. “The thing that shocked me the most is that, if I understand correctly, a lot of foreigners go there to specifically get a heart or to get a kidney.”
The Lehigh Valley Tea Party invited Dr. Jessica Russo and Jennie Sheets to speak at their meeting on June 4.
Left to right: Dr. Jessica Russo, Andrew Azan, and Jennie Sheets (Minghui.org)
Mr. Azan said that they will send links to their members so they can contact their U.S. senators and express their concerns: “We are against organ harvesting. My concern is that this is something that will eventually come here to the United States.”
Mr. Azan said that most people had no prior knowledge of the live organ harvesting in China. One of the members told him the event was “informative, but also disturbing.” The person hoped that the DAFOH representatives would return and give a more in-depth talk.
The Lehigh Valley Tea Party is the largest grassroots conservative group in Pennsylvania. It is a non-profit, non-partisan organization with over 7,000 members. Its mission is to restore American values by upholding the inalienable individual rights established in the Declaration of Independence.
Silent Harvest Exposes the CCP’s Organ Harvesting From People While They Are Alive
Silent Harvest: The Courage to Speak Up is a documentary about the unethical organ trade in China. It was produced by DAFOH and debuted in Washington, DC, on May 16 this year. The film presents an analysis of medical data and interviews with over 10 doctors, including a renowned transplant surgeon, ethicists, China experts, and victims. Founded in 2006, DAFOH is dedicated to investigating and stopping the CCP’s crimes of live organ harvesting. The organization has three times been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
An expert in the film said that doctors in China could arrange liver, kidney, and heart transplant surgeries in short periods of time. In the United States and Australia, where organ donation systems have been in place for a long time, people often need to wait for months or even years for a transplant. The only reasonable explanation for China’s ability to quickly provide large numbers of quality organs is by matching the patients to potential donors from a massive organ bank. The so-called “donors” are prisoners of conscience whose blood profile was screened against their will.
According to Ms. Sheets, Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs, and others of faith in China are often arrested and incarcerated in prisons and brainwashing centers, where they are forced to submit to blood and tissue typing. Their data is stored in a database. When a person needs an organ transplant, the authorities can quickly find a matching “donor” from the database, take the person to a hospital, and remove the organs from the living donor.
The movie cited investigative reports that say the actual number of organ transplants carried out in China may reach 60,000 to 100,000 per year, far exceeding the country’s published official numbers.
Ms. Sheets explained that “live organ harvesting” isn’t normal organ donation. It is “killing on demand,” orchestrated by the CCP to target specific groups of people.
“These people were basically a living organ bank,” she said. “They could lose their lives at any time because they were a match for an organ transplant. They were killed to satisfy the demand for organ transplants.”
Dr. Russo said that Falun Gong practitioners live a healthy lifestyle and are generally in good health. This made them a target in the CCP’s organ harvesting scheme. “Instead of enjoying basic human rights, they became commodities and a source of organs that can be disposed of at any time,” she said.
Support Bill S. 4009 and End Live Organ Harvesting
Both speakers talked about Bill S.4009 introduced to the U.S. Senate. The bill would require the U.S. government to investigate the CCP’s organ harvesting atrocities and impose sanctions on individuals and entities involved in such crimes. They called on the audience to urge their senators to expedite the process and pass the bill.
Dr. Russo said that the CCP uses its economic and political influence to suppress information and news about its human rights violations. Most of the mainstream media outlets and medical organizations have remained silent on this issue. She said that some international transplant organizations and medical organizations are well aware of the allegations, yet they refuse to conduct in-depth investigations, and even refuse to communicate with groups that expose the crime.
“This is not just about human rights infringements in China, but also ethical issues in the entire medical community,” she said. She believes that if the international community continues refusing to look into the issue, it will hurt public trust in the organ transplant system and medical ethics.
Ms. Sheets added that the CCP’s ongoing persecution of Falun Gong has persisted for 27 years. Organ harvesting from the practitioners who refuse to renounce their faith is one of the most despicable crimes the CCP is committing against them.
Enthusiastic Response from Audience to End Live Organ Harvesting
Some participants in the forum wrote letters to US Senator from Pennsylvania John Fetterman (Democrat) to support S. 4009. US Senator from Pennsylvania Dave McCormick (Republican) co-sponsored a similar bill, the Falun Gong Protection Act (S. 817), in 2005. Many people asked for a copy of DAFOH’s special investigative report to share the information with their families and friends.
Ms. Sheets was very touched by the enthusiastic response from the audience. She said, “A woman said she’d heard about the CCP’s forced organ harvesting before. She took several investigative reports with her and said that she would share the information with every doctor and medical staff she sees in the future. She intended to let more people know about this ongoing human rights atrocity.”
In the Q&A session, the first person in the audience to speak talked about a Shen Yun performance she and her husband saw in New York. She was impressed with the company’s classical Chinese dance and music. “It showcases Chinese culture before communist takeover and presents the ultimate beauty of Chinese dance. It’s truly magnificent,” she said. “You must go see the show if you have a chance. It is terrific, and the costumes were absolutely gorgeous.” She went on to say, “The CCP constantly tries to suppress this dance troupe outside of China. The artists are not allowed to enter China, let alone perform there. Because of the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong, some dancers constantly fear for their personal safety.”
Several participants said they wished more Americans could understand the facts of the CCP’s systemic effort in harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. They hope that by passing Bill S. 4009, these crimes against humanity will end.
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Category: Organ Harvesting
