I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 6636
To ensure that women seeking an abortion are notified, before giving informed
consent to receive an abortion, of the medical risks associated with
the abortion procedure and the major developmental characteristics of
the unborn child.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
DECEMBER6, 2023
Mrs. M
ILLERof Illinois (for herself, Mr. MOOREof Alabama, Mr. LAMALFA,
and Ms. B
OEBERT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To ensure that women seeking an abortion are notified,
before giving informed consent to receive an abortion,
of the medical risks associated with the abortion proce-
dure and the major developmental characteristics of the
unborn child.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Woman’s Right To 4
Know Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT OF INFORMED CONSENT. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.— 7
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(1) REQUIREMENT OF COMPLIANCE BY PRO -1
VIDERS.—Any abortion provider, acting in or affect-2
ing interstate or foreign commerce, who knowingly 3
performs, or attempts to perform, any abortion shall 4
comply with the requirements of this section. 5
(2) R
EVIEW OF MEDICAL RISKS AND UNBORN 6
HEALTH STATUS.—An abortion provider who intends 7
to perform, or attempt to perform, an abortion may 8
not perform any part of the abortion procedure with-9
out first— 10
(A) performing an ultra sound on the 11
woman seeking the abortion and sharing the re-12
sults of such ultra sound with the woman; and 13
(B) obtaining a signed Informed Consent 14
Authorization form in accordance with this sub-15
section. 16
(3) I
NFORMED CONSENT AUTHORIZATION 17
FORM.— 18
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Informed Consent 19
Authorization form required under this sub-20
section shall— 21
(i) be presented in person by the abor-22
tion provider 24 hours prior to performing, 23
or attempting to perform, the abortion to 24
the woman seeking the abortion; and 25
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(ii) consist of— 1
(I) a statement by the abortion 2
provider indicating— 3
(aa) the probable gestational 4
age, in completed days, of the 5
child; 6
(bb) all medical risks associ-7
ated with the specific abortion 8
procedure; and 9
(cc) the major developmental 10
characteristics of unborn children 11
at such gestational age, including 12
the presence of a heartbeat, the 13
ability to react to painful stimuli, 14
and the development of organs, 15
appendages, and facial features; 16
(II) a statement by the abortion 17
provider that an ultra sound has been 18
performed, and the results of such 19
ultra sound have been shared, as re-20
quired by paragraph (2)(A); 21
(III) a statement that the re-22
quirements of this subsection are 23
binding upon the abortion provider 24
and all other medical personnel, that 25
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such abortion providers and medical 1
personnel are subject to criminal and 2
civil penalties for violations of these 3
requirements, and that a woman on 4
whom an abortion has been performed 5
may take civil action if these require-6
ments are not followed; and 7
(IV) an affirmation that each in-8
dividual signing the Informed Consent 9
Authorization form has filled out the 10
form to the best of his or her knowl-11
edge and understands the information 12
contained in the form. 13
(B) S
IGNATORIES REQUIRED .—The In-14
formed Consent Authorization form required 15
under this subsection shall be signed in person 16
by the woman seeking the abortion, the abor-17
tion provider performing or attempting to per-18
form the abortion, and a witness. 19
(C) R
ETENTION OF CONSENT FORM .—The 20
abortion provider performing or attempting to 21
perform an abortion shall retain the signed In-22
formed Consent Authorization form required 23
under this subsection in the patient’s medical 24
file. 25
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(D) REQUIREMENT FOR DATA RETEN -1
TION.—Paragraph (j)(2) of section 164.530 of 2
title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, shall 3
apply to the Informed Consent Authorization 4
form required to be placed in a patient’s med-5
ical file pursuant to subparagraph (C) in the 6
same manner and to the same extent as such 7
paragraph applies to documentation required by 8
paragraph (j)(1) of such section. 9
(4) E
XCEPTIONS.—The requirements of this 10
subsection shall not apply if, in reasonable medical 11
judgment, compliance with paragraph (2) would pose 12
a greater risk of— 13
(A) the death of the pregnant woman; or 14
(B) the substantial and irreversible phys-15
ical impairment of a major bodily function, not 16
including psychological or emotional conditions, 17
of the pregnant woman. 18
(b) P
ENALTY FORFAILURETOCOMPLY.— 19
(1) C
IVIL PENALTY.— 20
(A) E
NFORCEMENT BY ATTORNEY GEN -21
ERAL.—The Attorney General shall commence 22
a civil action in an appropriate district court of 23
the United States under this subsection against 24
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any abortion provider who knowingly commits a 1
violation of subsection (a). 2
(B) P
ENALTY.—In a civil action under 3
subparagraph (A), the court may, to vindicate 4
the public interest, assess a civil penalty against 5
the abortion provider in an amount— 6
(i) not less than $100,000 and not 7
more than $150,000, for each such viola-8
tion that is adjudicated in the first pro-9
ceeding against such abortion provider 10
under this subsection; or 11
(ii) not less than $150,001 and not 12
more than $250,000, for each such viola-13
tion that is adjudicated in a subsequent 14
proceeding against such abortion provider 15
under this subsection. 16
(C) N
OTIFICATION.—Upon the assessment 17
of a civil penalty under subparagraph (B), the 18
Attorney General shall notify the appropriate 19
State medical licensing authority. 20
(D) N
O PENALTIES FOR PREGNANT 21
WOMEN.—A pregnant woman shall not be sub-22
ject to any penalty under this section. 23
(2) P
RIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 24
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(A) IN GENERAL.—A woman or a parent 1
of a minor upon whom an abortion has been 2
performed in violation of subsection (a) may 3
commence a civil action against the abortion 4
provider for appropriate relief. 5
(B) A
PPROPRIATE RELIEF .—Appropriate 6
relief in a civil action under this paragraph in-7
cludes— 8
(i) objectively verifiable money dam-9
ages for all injuries, psychological and 10
physical, occasioned by the violation; 11
(ii) statutory damages equal to 3 12
times the cost of the abortion; and 13
(iii) punitive damages. 14
(C) A
TTORNEY’S FEES FOR PLAINTIFF .— 15
The court shall award a reasonable attorney’s 16
fee as part of the costs to a prevailing plaintiff 17
in a civil action under this paragraph. 18
(D) A
TTORNEY’S FEES FOR DEFEND -19
ANT.—If a defendant in a civil action under 20
this paragraph prevails and the court finds that 21
the plaintiff’s suit was frivolous, the court shall 22
award a reasonable attorney’s fee in favor of 23
the defendant against the plaintiff. 24
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(E) AWARDS AGAINST WOMAN .—In any 1
civil action under this paragraph, no damages 2
or other monetary relief, and no attorney’s fees 3
except as provided under subparagraph (D), 4
may be assessed against the woman upon whom 5
the abortion was performed or attempted. 6
(c) P
REEMPTION.—Nothing in this Act or the amend-7
ments made by this Act shall be construed to preempt any 8
provision of State law to the extent that such State law 9
establishes, implements, or continues in effect disclosure 10
requirements regarding abortion or penalties for failure to 11
comply with such requirements that are more extensive 12
than those provided under the amendment made by this 13
Act. 14
(d) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 15
shall be construed to prohibit an abortion provider from 16
presenting the information required under subsection (a) 17
to a pregnant woman at the same time as acquiring in-18
formed consent for an abortion from such woman in ac-19
cordance with State law, provided that the presentation 20
of such information occurs at least 24 hours before the 21
abortion. 22
(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 23
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(1) ABORTION.—The term ‘‘abortion’’ means 1
the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, 2
drug, or any other substance or device— 3
(A) to intentionally kill the unborn child of 4
a woman known to be pregnant; or 5
(B) to intentionally terminate the preg-6
nancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with 7
an intention other than— 8
(i) after viability to produce a live 9
birth and preserve the life and health of 10
the child born alive; or 11
(ii) to remove a dead unborn child. 12
(2) A
BORTION PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘abortion 13
provider’’ means a person— 14
(A) licensed to practice medicine and sur-15
gery or osteopathic medicine and surgery; or 16
(B) otherwise legally authorized to perform 17
an abortion. 18
(3) A
TTEMPT.—The term ‘‘attempt’’, with re-19
spect to an abortion, means conduct that, under the 20
circumstances as the actor believes them to be, con-21
stitutes a substantial step in a course of conduct 22
planned to culminate in performing an abortion. 23
(4) M
INOR.—The term ‘‘minor’’ means an indi-24
vidual who has not attained the age of 18 years. 25
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(5) PERFORM.—The term ‘‘perform’’, with re-1
spect to an abortion, includes inducing an abortion 2
through a medical or chemical intervention including 3
writing a prescription for a drug or device intended 4
to result in an abortion. 5
(6) R
EASONABLE MEDICAL JUDGMENT .—The 6
term ‘‘reasonable medical judgment’’ means a med-7
ical judgment that would be made by a reasonably 8
prudent abortion provider, knowledgeable about the 9
case and the treatment possibilities with respect to 10
the medical conditions involved. 11
(7) U
NBORN CHILD.—The term ‘‘unborn child’’ 12
means an individual organism of the species homo 13
sapiens, beginning at fertilization, until the point of 14
being born alive as defined in section 8(b) of title 1, 15
United States Code. 16
(8) W
OMAN.—The term ‘‘woman’’ means a fe-17
male human being whether or not she has reached 18
the age of majority. 19
Æ
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