I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1639
To prohibit abortions in the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United
States, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY26, 2025
Mr. W
EBERof Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To prohibit abortions in the admiralty and maritime
jurisdiction of the United States, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Ban Offshore Abortion 4
Tourism Act’’ or the ‘‘BOAT Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. PROHIBITING ABORTION IN THE CERTAIN JURIS-6
DICTIONS. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 74 of title 18, United 8
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1531 9
the following: 10
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‘‘§ 1532. Abortions in the admiralty and maritime ju-1
risdiction of the United States 2
‘‘(a) O
FFENSE.—Subject to subsection (b), any per-3
son who, in the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the 4
United States, knowingly performs an abortion and there-5
by kills a human fetus shall be fined under this title, im-6
prisoned not more than 5 years, or both. 7
‘‘(b) E
XCEPTION.—Subsection (a) does not apply if— 8
‘‘(1) in reasonable medical judgment, the abor-9
tion is necessary to save the life of a pregnant 10
woman whose life is endangered by a physical dis-11
order, physical illness, or physical injury, including 12
a life-endangering physical condition caused by or 13
arising from the pregnancy itself, but not including 14
psychological or emotional conditions; 15
‘‘(2) the pregnancy is the result of rape against 16
an adult woman, and at least 48 hours prior to the 17
abortion— 18
‘‘(A) she has obtained counseling for the 19
rape; or 20
‘‘(B) she has obtained medical treatment 21
for the rape or an injury related to the rape; or 22
‘‘(3) the pregnancy is a result of rape against 23
a minor or incest against a minor, and the rape or 24
incest has been reported at any time prior to the 25
abortion to either— 26
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‘‘(A) a government agency legally author-1
ized to act on reports of child abuse; or 2
‘‘(B) a law enforcement agency. 3
‘‘(c) B
AR TOPROSECUTION.—A woman upon whom 4
an abortion in violation of subsection (a) is performed or 5
attempted may not be prosecuted under, or for a con-6
spiracy to violate, subsection (a), or for an offense under 7
section 2, 3, or 4 of this title based on such a violation. 8
‘‘(d) C
IVILREMEDIES.— 9
‘‘(1) C
IVIL ACTION BY A WOMAN ON WHOM AN 10
ABORTION IS PERFORMED .—A woman upon whom 11
an abortion has been performed or attempted in vio-12
lation of any provision of this section may, in a civil 13
action before the appropriate district court of the 14
United States against any person who committed the 15
violation, obtain appropriate relief. 16
‘‘(2) C
IVIL ACTION BY A PARENT OF A MINOR 17
ON WHOM ABORTION IS PERFORMED .—A parent of 18
a minor upon whom an abortion has been performed 19
or attempted under an exception provided for in sub-20
section (b)(2)(B), and that was performed in viola-21
tion of any provision of this section may, in a civil 22
action before the appropriate district court of the 23
United States against any person who committed the 24
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violation obtain appropriate relief, unless the preg-1
nancy resulted from the plaintiff’s criminal conduct. 2
‘‘(3) A
PPROPRIATE RELIEF.—Appropriate relief 3
in a civil action under this subsection includes— 4
‘‘(A) objectively verifiable money damages 5
for all injuries, psychological and physical, occa-6
sioned by the violation; 7
‘‘(B) statutory damages equal to three 8
times the cost of the abortion; and 9
‘‘(C) punitive damages. 10
‘‘(4) A
TTORNEYS’ FEES FOR PLAINTIFF.—If a 11
plaintiff in a civil action under this subsection pre-12
vails, the court shall award a reasonable attorney’s 13
fee in favor of the plaintiff against the defendant. 14
‘‘(5) A
TTORNEYS’ FEES FOR DEFENDANT .—If a 15
defendant in a civil action under this subsection pre-16
vails and the court finds that the plaintiff’s suit was 17
frivolous, the court shall award a reasonable attor-18
ney’s fee in favor of the defendant against the plain-19
tiff. 20
‘‘(6) A
WARD AGAINST WOMAN UPON WHOM 21
ABORTION IS PERFORMED .—Except under para-22
graph (5), in a civil action under this subsection, no 23
damages, attorneys’ fees, or other monetary relief 24
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may be assessed against the woman upon whom the 1
abortion was performed or attempted.’’. 2
(b) T
ABLE OFSECTIONS.—The table of sections for 3
chapter 74 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 4
by inserting after section 1531 the following: 5
‘‘1532. Abortions in the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United
States’’.
Æ
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