Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB421 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 118THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 421
55 To prohibit chemical abortions performed without the presence of a healthcare
66 provider, and for other purposes.
77 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
88 JANUARY20, 2023
99 Mr. G
1010 OODof Virginia (for himself, Mr. ROSENDALE, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr.
1111 B
1212 ISHOPof North Carolina, Mrs. MILLERof Illinois, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr.
1313 L
1414 AMBORN, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. KELLYof Mississippi, Mr. JOHNSONof
1515 Louisiana, Mr. C
1616 LOUD, Mr. WEBERof Texas, Mr. BANKS, Mr. JACKSON
1717 of Texas, Mr. W
1818 ILLIAMSof Texas, Mr. SELF, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. CLYDE,
1919 Mr. B
2020 ABIN, Mrs. BOEBERT, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. BURLISON, Mr. DAVIDSON,
2121 Mr. S
2222 ESSIONS, Mr. MOONEY, Mr. ARRINGTON, Mr. GUEST, and Ms.
2323 H
2424 AGEMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
2525 mittee on the Judiciary
2626 A BILL
2727 To prohibit chemical abortions performed without the
2828 presence of a healthcare provider, and for other purposes.
2929 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
3030 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
3131 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
3232 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Teleabortion Preven-4
3333 tion Act of 2023’’. 5
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3737 SEC. 2. CHEMICAL ABORTIONS PROHIBITED WITHOUT A 1
3838 HEALTHCARE PROVIDER PRESENT. 2
3939 (a) C
4040 HEMICALABORTIONSPROHIBITEDWITHOUT A 3
4141 P
4242 HYSICIANPRESENT.—Chapter 74 of title 18, United 4
4343 States Code, is amended— 5
4444 (1) in the chapter heading by striking ‘‘PAR-6
4545 TIAL-BIRTH’’; and 7
4646 (2) by inserting after section 1531 the fol-8
4747 lowing: 9
4848 ‘‘§ 1532. Chemical abortions prohibited without a 10
4949 healthcare provider physically present 11
5050 ‘‘(a) O
5151 FFENSE.—Any healthcare provider who, in or 12
5252 affecting interstate or foreign commerce, who knowingly 13
5353 provides or attempts to provide a chemical abortion— 14
5454 ‘‘(1) without physically examining the patient; 15
5555 ‘‘(2) without being physically present at the lo-16
5656 cation of the chemical abortion; and 17
5757 ‘‘(3) without scheduling a follow-up visit for the 18
5858 patient to occur not more than 14 days after the ad-19
5959 ministration or use of the drug to assess the pa-20
6060 tient’s physical condition, 21
6161 shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not 22
6262 more than 2 years, or both. This subsection does not apply 23
6363 to a chemical abortion that is necessary to save the life 24
6464 of a mother whose life is endangered by a physical dis-25
6565 order, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life- 26
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6969 endangering physical condition caused by or arising from 1
7070 the pregnancy itself. 2
7171 ‘‘(b) N
7272 OLIABILITY OF THE PATIENT.—A patient 3
7373 upon whom an abortion is performed may not be pros-4
7474 ecuted under this section or for a conspiracy to violate 5
7575 this section. 6
7676 ‘‘(c) D
7777 EFINITIONS.—In this section: 7
7878 ‘‘(1) A
7979 BORTION DRUG.—The term ‘abortion 8
8080 drug’ means any medicine, drug or any other sub-9
8181 stance, or any combination of drugs, medicines or 10
8282 substances, when it is used— 11
8383 ‘‘(A) to intentionally kill the unborn child 12
8484 of a woman known to be pregnant; or 13
8585 ‘‘(B) to intentionally terminate the preg-14
8686 nancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with 15
8787 an intention other than— 16
8888 ‘‘(i) to produce a live birth; or 17
8989 ‘‘(ii) to remove a dead unborn child. 18
9090 ‘‘(2) A
9191 TTEMPTS TO PROVIDE .—In this section, 19
9292 the term ‘attempts to provide’, means conduct that, 20
9393 under the circumstances as the actor believes them 21
9494 to be, constitutes a substantial step in a course of 22
9595 conduct planned to culminate in a chemical abortion. 23
9696 ‘‘(3) H
9797 EALTHCARE PROVIDER .—The term 24
9898 ‘healthcare provider’ means any person licensed to 25
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102102 prescribe prescription drugs under applicable Fed-1
103103 eral and State laws. 2
104104 ‘‘(4) P
105105 ROVIDE.—In this section, the term ‘pro-3
106106 vide’, means to dispense or prescribe an abortion 4
107107 drug, or to otherwise make an abortion drug avail-5
108108 able to a patient. 6
109109 ‘‘(5) C
110110 HEMICAL ABORTION .—The term ‘chem-7
111111 ical abortion’ refers to the use of an abortion drug 8
112112 to— 9
113113 ‘‘(A) intentionally kill the unborn child of 10
114114 a woman known to be pregnant; or 11
115115 ‘‘(B) intentionally terminate the pregnancy 12
116116 of a woman known to be pregnant, with an in-13
117117 tention other than— 14
118118 ‘‘(i) to produce a live birth; or 15
119119 ‘‘(ii) to remove a dead unborn child. 16
120120 ‘‘(6) U
121121 NBORN CHILD.—The term ‘unborn child’ 17
122122 means an individual organism of the species homo 18
123123 sapiens, beginning at fertilization, until the point of 19
124124 being born alive as defined in section 8(b). 20
125125 ‘‘(d) R
126126 ULE OFCONSTRUCTIONREGARDINGECTOPIC 21
127127 P
128128 REGNANCY.—Nothing in this section shall be construed 22
129129 to have any impact on the treatment of a verified ectopic 23
130130 pregnancy. 24
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134134 ‘‘(e) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this section 1
135135 or the application of such provision to any person or cir-2
136136 cumstance is held to be invalid, the remainder of this sec-3
137137 tion and the application of the provisions of the remainder 4
138138 to any person or circumstance shall not be affected there-5
139139 by.’’. 6
140140 (b) C
141141 LERICALAMENDMENTS.— 7
142142 (1) C
143143 HAPTER 74.—The table of sections for 8
144144 such chapter is amended by inserting after the item 9
145145 relating to section 1531 the following: 10
146146 ‘‘1532. Chemical abortions prohibited without a healthcare provider physically
147147 present.’’.
148148 (2) PART I.—The table of chapters for part I 11
149149 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by strik-12
150150 ing the item relating to chapter 74, and inserting 13
151151 the following: 14
152152 ‘‘74. Abortions .......................................................................................... 1531’’.
153153 Æ
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