I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 21
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health care practitioner
from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a
child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mrs. W
AGNER(for herself, Mr. SCALISE, and Mrs. CAMMACK) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health
care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper de-
gree of care in the case of a child who survives an
abortion or attempted 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 ‘‘Born-Alive Abortion 4
Survivors Protection Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY. 6
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds as follows: 7
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(1) If an abortion results in the live birth of an 1
infant, the infant is a legal person for all purposes 2
under the laws of the United States, and entitled to 3
all the protections of such laws. 4
(2) Any infant born alive after an abortion or 5
within a hospital, clinic, or other facility has the 6
same claim to the protection of the law that would 7
arise for any newborn, or for any person who comes 8
to a hospital, clinic, or other facility for screening 9
and treatment or otherwise becomes a patient within 10
its care. 11
(b) C
ONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY.—In accordance 12
with the above findings, Congress enacts the following 13
pursuant to Congress’ power under— 14
(1) section 5 of the 14th Amendment, including 15
the power to enforce the prohibition on government 16
action denying equal protection of the laws; and 17
(2) section 8 of article I to make all laws nec-18
essary and proper for carrying into execution the 19
powers vested by the Constitution of the United 20
States, including the power to regulate commerce 21
under clause 3 of such section. 22
SEC. 3. BORN-ALIVE INFANTS PROTECTION. 23
(a) R
EQUIREMENTS PERTAINING TO BORN-ALIVE 24
A
BORTIONSURVIVORS.—Chapter 74 of title 18, United 25
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States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1531 1
the following: 2
‘‘§ 1532. Requirements pertaining to born-alive abor-3
tion survivors 4
‘‘(a) R
EQUIREMENTS FOR HEALTHCAREPRACTI-5
TIONERS.—In the case of an abortion or attempted abor-6
tion that results in a child born alive (as defined in section 7
8 of title 1, United States Code (commonly known as the 8
‘Born-Alive Infants Protection Act’)): 9
‘‘(1) D
EGREE OF CARE REQUIRED ; IMMEDIATE 10
ADMISSION TO A HOSPITAL.—Any health care practi-11
tioner present at the time the child is born alive 12
shall— 13
‘‘(A) exercise the same degree of profes-14
sional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the 15
life and health of the child as a reasonably dili-16
gent and conscientious health care practitioner 17
would render to any other child born alive at 18
the same gestational age; and 19
‘‘(B) following the exercise of skill, care, 20
and diligence required under subparagraph (A), 21
ensure that the child born alive is immediately 22
transported and admitted to a hospital. 23
‘‘(2) M
ANDATORY REPORTING OF VIOLA -24
TIONS.—A health care practitioner or any employee 25
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of a hospital, a physician’s office, or an abortion 1
clinic who has knowledge of a failure to comply with 2
the requirements of paragraph (1) shall immediately 3
report the failure to an appropriate State or Federal 4
law enforcement agency, or to both. 5
‘‘(b) P
ENALTIES.— 6
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Whoever violates subsection 7
(a) shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for 8
not more than 5 years, or both. 9
‘‘(2) I
NTENTIONAL KILLING OF CHILD BORN 10
ALIVE.—Whoever intentionally performs or attempts 11
to perform an overt act that kills a child born alive 12
described under subsection (a), shall be punished as 13
under section 1111 of this title for intentionally kill-14
ing or attempting to kill a human being. 15
‘‘(c) B
AR TOPROSECUTION.—The mother of a child 16
born alive described under subsection (a) may not be pros-17
ecuted under this section, for conspiracy to violate this 18
section, or for an offense under section 3 or 4 of this title 19
based on such a violation. 20
‘‘(d) C
IVILREMEDIES.— 21
‘‘(1) C
IVIL ACTION BY A WOMAN ON WHOM AN 22
ABORTION IS PERFORMED .—If a child is born alive 23
and there is a violation of subsection (a), the woman 24
upon whom the abortion was performed or at-25
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tempted may, in a civil action against any person 1
who committed the violation, obtain appropriate re-2
lief. 3
‘‘(2) A
PPROPRIATE RELIEF.—Appropriate relief 4
in a civil action under this subsection includes— 5
‘‘(A) objectively verifiable money damage 6
for all injuries, psychological and physical, occa-7
sioned by the violation of subsection (a); 8
‘‘(B) statutory damages equal to 3 times 9
the cost of the abortion or attempted abortion; 10
and 11
‘‘(C) punitive damages. 12
‘‘(3) A
TTORNEY’S FEE FOR PLAINTIFF .—The 13
court shall award a reasonable attorney’s fee to a 14
prevailing plaintiff in a civil action under this sub-15
section. 16
‘‘(4) A
TTORNEY’S FEE FOR DEFENDANT .—If a 17
defendant in a civil action under this subsection pre-18
vails and the court finds that the plaintiff’s suit was 19
frivolous, the court shall award a reasonable attor-20
ney’s fee in favor of the defendant against the plain-21
tiff. 22
‘‘(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section the following 23
definitions apply: 24
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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 4
of 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
TTEMPT.—The term ‘attempt’, with re-13
spect to an abortion, means conduct that, under the 14
circumstances as the actor believes them to be, con-15
stitutes a substantial step in a course of conduct 16
planned to culminate in performing an abortion.’’. 17
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 18
for chapter 74 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 19
by inserting after the item pertaining to section 1531 the 20
following: 21
‘‘1532. Requirements pertaining to born-alive abortion survivors.’’.
(c) CHAPTERHEADINGAMENDMENTS.— 22
(1) C
HAPTER HEADING IN CHAPTER .—The 23
chapter heading for chapter 74 of title 18, United 24
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States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘Partial- 1
Birth Abortions’’ and inserting ‘‘Abortions’’. 2
(2) T
ABLE OF CHAPTERS FOR PART I .—The 3
item relating to chapter 74 in the table of chapters 4
at the beginning of part I of title 18, United States 5
Code, is amended by striking ‘‘Partial-Birth Abor-6
tions’’ and inserting ‘‘Abortions’’. 7
Æ
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