National Right to Life Responds to

Recent HHS Findings on Organ Procurement Practices

WASHINGTON — National Right to Life responded to the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) announcement of sweeping reforms to the organ transplantation system showing egregious and alarming violations and horrifying stories of patients who showed signs of life—indicators that should have stopped the organ procurement process.

The following is a statement from Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life:

National Right to Life welcomes the HHS investigation and the administration’s decisive response to deeply troubling revelations regarding premature organ procurements. The pro-life movement holds the sanctity of every human life as paramount, and these findings are deeply disturbing. Allowing organ procurement processes to move forward on patients who may still be alive contradicts our fundamental moral principles and undermines public trust in the transplant system. Horrifying accounts aren’t isolated anecdotes—they’re evidence of structural flaws that demand accountability, transparency, and immediate reform.

HHS noted that a report by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) reviewed 351 donations and found 73 patients exhibited neurological activity, with at least 28 cases where organ retrieval began before legal death was established.

A July 20 New York Times report highlighted cases under donation‑after‑circulatory‑death (DCD), in which patients appeared to have regained consciousness while being prepared for organ harvest—even undergoing incision—before procedures were halted.