Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB48 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 48
5	5	To amend the Public Health Service Act to ensure that women seeking
6	6	an abortion receive an ultrasound and the opportunity to review the
7	7	ultrasound before giving informed consent to receive an abortion.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	JANUARY3, 2025
10	10	Mr. B
11	11	IGGSof Arizona (for himself, Mr. CRENSHAW, and Mr. BURLISON) in-
12	12	troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
13	13	ergy and Commerce
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To amend the Public Health Service Act to ensure that
16	16	women seeking an abortion receive an ultrasound and
17	17	the opportunity to review the ultrasound before giving
18	18	informed consent to receive an abortion.
19	19	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
20	20	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
21	21	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
22	22	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ultrasound Informed 4
23	23	Consent Act’’. 5
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27	27	SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE 1
28	28	ACT. 2
29	29	The Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et 3
30	30	seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 4
31	31	‘‘TITLE XXXIV—INFORMED 5
32	32	CONSENT 6
33	33	‘‘SEC. 3401. DEFINITIONS. 7
34	34	‘‘In this title: 8
35	35	‘‘(1) A
36	36	BORTION.—The term ‘abortion’ means 9
37	37	the intentional use or prescription of any instru-10
38	38	ment, medicine, drug, substance, device, or method 11
39	39	to terminate the life of an unborn child, or to termi-12
40	40	nate the pregnancy of a woman known to be preg-13
41	41	nant, with an intention other than— 14
42	42	‘‘(A) to produce a live birth and preserve 15
43	43	the life and health of the child after live birth; 16
44	44	or 17
45	45	‘‘(B) to remove an ectopic pregnancy, or to 18
46	46	remove a dead unborn child who died as the re-19
47	47	sult of a spontaneous abortion, accidental trau-20
48	48	ma, or a criminal assault on the pregnant fe-21
49	49	male or her unborn child. 22
50	50	‘‘(2) A
51	51	BORTION PROVIDER.—The term ‘abortion 23
52	52	provider’ means any person legally qualified to per-24
53	53	form an abortion under applicable Federal and State 25
54	54	laws. 26
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58	58	‘‘(3) UNBORN CHILD.—The term ‘unborn child’ 1
59	59	means a member of the species homo sapiens, at any 2
60	60	stage of development prior to birth. 3
61	61	‘‘(4) U
62	62	NEMANCIPATED MINOR .—The term 4
63	63	‘unemancipated minor’ means a minor who is sub-5
64	64	ject to the control, authority, and supervision of his 6
65	65	or her parent or guardian, as determined under 7
66	66	State law. 8
67	67	‘‘(5) W
68	68	OMAN.—The term ‘woman’ means a fe-9
69	69	male human being whether or not she has reached 10
70	70	the age of majority. 11
71	71	‘‘SEC. 3402. REQUIREMENT OF INFORMED CONSENT. 12
72	72	‘‘(a) R
73	73	EQUIREMENT OF COMPLIANCE BY PRO-13
74	74	VIDERS.—Any abortion provider in or affecting interstate 14
75	75	or foreign commerce, who knowingly performs any abor-15
76	76	tion, shall comply with the requirements of this title. 16
77	77	‘‘(b) P
78	78	ERFORMANCE AND REVIEW OF 17
79	79	U
80	80	LTRASOUND.—Prior to a woman giving informed con-18
81	81	sent to having any part of an abortion performed, the 19
82	82	abortion provider who is to perform the abortion, or an 20
83	83	agent under the supervision of the provider, shall— 21
84	84	‘‘(1) perform an obstetric ultrasound on the 22
85	85	pregnant woman; 23
86	86	‘‘(2) provide a simultaneous explanation of 24
87	87	what the ultrasound is depicting; 25
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91	91	‘‘(3) display the ultrasound images so that the 1
92	92	pregnant woman may view them; and 2
93	93	‘‘(4) provide a complete medical description of 3
94	94	the ultrasound images, which shall include— 4
95	95	‘‘(A) the dimensions of the embryo or 5
96	96	fetus; 6
97	97	‘‘(B) cardiac activity if present and visible; 7
98	98	and 8
99	99	‘‘(C) the presence of external members and 9
100	100	internal organs if present and viewable. 10
101	101	‘‘(c) A
102	102	BILITY TOTURNEYESAWAY.—Nothing in 11
103	103	this section shall be construed to prevent a pregnant 12
104	104	woman from turning her eyes away from the ultrasound 13
105	105	images required to be displayed and described to her. Nei-14
106	106	ther the abortion provider nor the pregnant woman shall 15
107	107	be subject to any penalty under this title if the pregnant 16
108	108	woman declines to look at the displayed ultrasound im-17
109	109	ages. 18
110	110	‘‘SEC. 3403. EXCEPTION FOR MEDICAL EMERGENCIES. 19
111	111	‘‘(a) E
112	112	XCEPTION.—The provisions of section 3402 20
113	113	shall not apply to an abortion provider if the abortion is 21
114	114	necessary to save the life of a mother whose life is endan-22
115	115	gered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical 23
116	116	injury, including a life-endangering physical condition 24
117	117	caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself. 25
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121	121	‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION.—Upon a determination by an 1
122	122	abortion provider under subsection (a) that an abortion 2
123	123	is necessary to save the life of a mother, such provider 3
124	124	shall include in the medical file of the pregnant woman 4
125	125	a truthful and accurate certification of the specific medical 5
126	126	circumstances that support such determination. 6
127	127	‘‘SEC. 3404. PENALTIES FOR FAILURE TO COMPLY. 7
128	128	‘‘(a) C
129	129	IVILPENALTIES.— 8
130	130	‘‘(1) I
131	131	N GENERAL.—The Attorney General may 9
132	132	commence a civil action in Federal court under this 10
133	133	section against any abortion provider who knowingly 11
134	134	commits an act constituting a violation of this title 12
135	135	for a penalty in an amount not to exceed— 13
136	136	‘‘(A) $100,000 for each such violation that 14
137	137	is adjudicated in the first proceeding against 15
138	138	such provider under this title; and 16
139	139	‘‘(B) $250,000 for each violation of this 17
140	140	title that is adjudicated in a subsequent pro-18
141	141	ceeding against such provider under this title. 19
142	142	‘‘(2) N
143	143	OTIFICATION.—Upon the assessment of 20
144	144	a civil penalty under paragraph (1), the Attorney 21
145	145	General shall notify the appropriate State medical li-22
146	146	censing authority. 23
147	147	‘‘(b) P
148	148	RIVATERIGHT OFACTION.—A woman upon 24
149	149	whom an abortion has been performed in violation of this 25
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153	153	title may commence a civil action against the abortion pro-1
154	154	vider for any violation of this title for actual and punitive 2
155	155	damages. For purposes of the preceding sentence, actual 3
156	156	damages are objectively verifiable money damages for all 4
157	157	injuries.’’. 5
158	158	SEC. 3. PREEMPTION. 6
159	159	Nothing in this Act or the amendment made by this 7
160	160	Act shall be construed to preempt any provision of State 8
161	161	law to the extent that such State law establishes, imple-9
162	162	ments, or continues in effect disclosure requirements re-10
163	163	garding abortion or penalties for failure to comply with 11
164	164	such requirements that are more extensive than those pro-12
165	165	vided under the amendment made by this Act. 13
166	166	SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY. 14
167	167	If any provision of this Act or the amendment made 15
168	168	by this Act, or any application thereof, is found to be un-16
169	169	constitutional, the remainder of this Act and the amend-17
170	170	ment made by this Act, and any application thereof, shall 18
171	171	not be affected by such finding. 19
172	172	Æ
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