II
118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION S. 3609
To ensure that women seeking an abortion are informed of the medical
risks associated with the abortion procedure and the major developmental
characteristics of the unborn child, before giving their informed consent
to receive an abortion.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY18, 2024
Mrs. B
LACKBURN(for herself, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. DAINES, Mr. HAGERTY, Mr.
L
ANKFORD, and Mr. RUBIO) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions
A BILL
To ensure that women seeking an abortion are informed
of the medical risks associated with the abortion proce-
dure and the major developmental characteristics of the
unborn child, before giving their informed consent to
receive an abortion.
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
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SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT OF INFORMED CONSENT. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.— 2
(1) R
EQUIREMENT OF COMPLIANCE BY PRO -3
VIDERS.—Any abortion provider, acting in or affect-4
ing interstate or foreign commerce, who knowingly 5
performs, or attempts to perform, any abortion shall 6
comply with the requirements of this section. 7
(2) R
EVIEW OF MEDICAL RISKS AND UNBORN 8
HEALTH STATUS.—An abortion provider who intends 9
to perform, or attempt to perform, an abortion may 10
not perform any part of the abortion procedure with-11
out first obtaining a signed Informed Consent Au-12
thorization form in accordance with this subsection. 13
(3) I
NFORMED CONSENT AUTHORIZATION 14
FORM.— 15
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Informed Consent 16
Authorization form required under this sub-17
section shall— 18
(i) be presented in person by the abor-19
tion provider 24 hours prior to performing, 20
or attempting to perform, the abortion to 21
the woman seeking the abortion; and 22
(ii) consist of— 23
(I) a statement by the abortion 24
provider indicating— 25
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(aa) the probable gestational 1
age, in completed days, of the 2
child; 3
(bb) all medical risks associ-4
ated with the specific abortion 5
procedure; and 6
(cc) the major developmental 7
characteristics of unborn children 8
at such gestational age, including 9
the presence of a heartbeat, the 10
ability to react to painful stimuli, 11
and the development of organs, 12
appendages, and facial features; 13
(II) a statement that the require-14
ments of this subsection are binding 15
upon the abortion provider and all 16
other medical personnel, that such 17
abortion providers and medical per-18
sonnel are subject to criminal and 19
civil penalties for violations of these 20
requirements, and that a woman on 21
whom an abortion has been performed 22
may take civil action if these require-23
ments are not followed; and 24
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(III) an affirmation that each in-1
dividual signing the Informed Consent 2
Authorization form has filled out the 3
form to the best of his or her knowl-4
edge and understands the information 5
contained in the form. 6
(B) S
IGNATORIES REQUIRED .—The In-7
formed Consent Authorization form required 8
under this subsection shall be signed in person 9
by the woman seeking the abortion, the abor-10
tion provider performing or attempting to per-11
form the abortion, and a witness. 12
(C) R
ETENTION OF CONSENT FORM .—The 13
abortion provider performing or attempting to 14
perform an abortion shall retain the signed In-15
formed Consent Authorization form required 16
under this subsection in the patient’s medical 17
file. 18
(D) R
EQUIREMENT FOR DATA RETEN -19
TION.—Paragraph (j)(2) of section 164.530 of 20
title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, shall 21
apply to the Informed Consent Authorization 22
form required to be placed in a patient’s med-23
ical file pursuant to subparagraph (C) in the 24
same manner and to the same extent as such 25
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paragraph applies to documentation required by 1
paragraph (j)(1) of such section. 2
(4) E
XCEPTIONS.—The requirements of this 3
subsection shall not apply if, in reasonable medical 4
judgment, compliance with paragraph (2) would pose 5
a greater risk of— 6
(A) the death of the pregnant woman; or 7
(B) the substantial and irreversible phys-8
ical impairment of a major bodily function, not 9
including psychological or emotional conditions, 10
of the pregnant woman. 11
(b) P
ENALTY FORFAILURETOCOMPLY.— 12
(1) C
IVIL PENALTY.— 13
(A) E
NFORCEMENT BY ATTORNEY GEN -14
ERAL.—The Attorney General shall commence 15
a civil action in an appropriate district court of 16
the United States under this subsection against 17
any abortion provider who knowingly commits a 18
violation of subsection (a). 19
(B) P
ENALTY.—In a civil action under 20
subparagraph (A), the court may, to vindicate 21
the public interest, assess a civil penalty against 22
the abortion provider in an amount— 23
(i) not less than $100,000 and not 24
more than $150,000, for each such viola-25
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tion that is adjudicated in the first pro-1
ceeding against such abortion provider 2
under this subsection; or 3
(ii) not less than $150,001 and not 4
more than $250,000, for each such viola-5
tion that is adjudicated in a subsequent 6
proceeding against such abortion provider 7
under this subsection. 8
(C) N
OTIFICATION.—Upon the assessment 9
of a civil penalty under subparagraph (B), the 10
Attorney General shall notify the appropriate 11
State medical licensing authority. 12
(D) N
O PENALTIES FOR PREGNANT 13
WOMEN.—A pregnant woman shall not be sub-14
ject to any penalty under this section. 15
(2) P
RIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 16
(A) I
N GENERAL.—A woman or a parent 17
of a minor upon whom an abortion has been 18
performed in violation of subsection (a) may 19
commence a civil action against the abortion 20
provider for appropriate relief. 21
(B) A
PPROPRIATE RELIEF .—Appropriate 22
relief in a civil action under this paragraph in-23
cludes— 24
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(i) objectively verifiable money dam-1
ages for all injuries, psychological and 2
physical, occasioned by the violation; 3
(ii) statutory damages equal to 3 4
times the cost of the abortion; and 5
(iii) punitive damages. 6
(C) A
TTORNEY’S FEES FOR PLAINTIFF .— 7
The court shall award a reasonable attorney’s 8
fee as part of the costs to a prevailing plaintiff 9
in a civil action under this paragraph. 10
(D) A
TTORNEY’S FEES FOR DEFEND -11
ANT.—If a defendant in a civil action under 12
this paragraph prevails and the court finds that 13
the plaintiff’s suit was frivolous, the court shall 14
award a reasonable attorney’s fee in favor of 15
the defendant against the plaintiff. 16
(E) A
WARDS AGAINST WOMAN .—In any 17
civil action under this paragraph, no damages 18
or other monetary relief, and no attorney’s fees 19
except as provided under subparagraph (D), 20
may be assessed against the woman upon whom 21
the abortion was performed or attempted. 22
(c) P
REEMPTION.—Nothing in this Act or the amend-23
ments made by this Act shall be construed to preempt any 24
provision of State law to the extent that such State law 25
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establishes, implements, or continues in effect disclosure 1
requirements regarding abortion or penalties for failure to 2
comply with such requirements that are more extensive 3
than those provided under the amendment made by this 4
Act. 5
(d) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 6
shall be construed to prohibit an abortion provider from 7
presenting the information required under subsection (a) 8
to a pregnant woman at the same time as acquiring in-9
formed consent for an abortion from such woman in ac-10
cordance with State law, provided that the presentation 11
of such information occurs at least 24 hours before the 12
abortion. 13
(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 14
(1) A
BORTION.—The term ‘‘abortion’’ means 15
the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, 16
drug, or any other substance or device— 17
(A) to intentionally kill the unborn child of 18
a woman known to be pregnant; or 19
(B) to intentionally terminate the preg-20
nancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with 21
an intention other than— 22
(i) after viability to produce a live 23
birth and preserve the life and health of 24
the child born alive; or 25
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(ii) to remove a dead unborn child. 1
(2) A
BORTION PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘abortion 2
provider’’ means a person— 3
(A) licensed to practice medicine and sur-4
gery or osteopathic medicine and surgery; or 5
(B) otherwise legally authorized to perform 6
an abortion. 7
(3) A
TTEMPT.—The term ‘‘attempt’’, with re-8
spect to an abortion, means conduct that, under the 9
circumstances as the actor believes them to be, con-10
stitutes a substantial step in a course of conduct 11
planned to culminate in performing an abortion. 12
(4) M
INOR.—The term ‘‘minor’’ means an indi-13
vidual who has not attained the age of 18 years. 14
(5) P
ERFORM.—The term ‘‘perform’’, with re-15
spect to an abortion, includes inducing an abortion 16
through a medical or chemical intervention including 17
writing a prescription for a drug or device intended 18
to result in an abortion. 19
(6) R
EASONABLE MEDICAL JUDGMENT .—The 20
term ‘‘reasonable medical judgment’’ means a med-21
ical judgment that would be made by a reasonably 22
prudent abortion provider, knowledgeable about the 23
case and the treatment possibilities with respect to 24
the medical conditions involved. 25
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(7) UNBORN CHILD.—The term ‘‘unborn child’’ 1
means an individual organism of the species homo 2
sapiens, beginning at fertilization, until the point of 3
being born alive as defined in section 8(b) of title 1, 4
United States Code. 5
(8) W
OMAN.—The term ‘‘woman’’ means a fe-6
male human being whether or not she has reached 7
the age of majority. 8
Æ
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