I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 636
To amend section 248 of title 18, United States Code, to provide adequate
penalties and remedies for attacks on facilities providing counseling about
abortion alternatives and attacks on places of religious worship.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY22, 2025
Ms. T
ENNEYintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend section 248 of title 18, United States Code, to
provide adequate penalties and remedies for attacks on
facilities providing counseling about abortion alternatives
and attacks on places of religious worship.
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 ‘‘Pregnancy Resource 4
Center Defense Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. ATTACKS ON FACILITIES PROVIDING COUNSELING 1
ABOUT ABORTION ALTERNATIVES AND 2
PLACES OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. 3
(a) C
RIMINALPENALTIES.—Section 248(b)(1) of 4
title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘, 5
except that for a first offense, if the conduct involved a 6
facility described in subsection (a)(3) that exclusively pro-7
vides abortion-alternative services or involved a place of 8
religious worship and did not involve exclusively a non-9
violent physical obstruction, the length of imprisonment 10
shall be not more than 3 years’’ after ‘‘or both’’. 11
(b) C
IVILREMEDIES.—Section 248(c) of title 18, 12
United States Code, is amended— 13
(1) in paragraph (1)(B), in the second sentence, 14
by inserting ‘‘, or $20,000 per violation for conduct 15
involving a facility described in subsection (a)(3) 16
that exclusively provides abortion-alternative services 17
or involving a place of religious worship’’ after ‘‘per 18
violation’’; and 19
(2) in paragraph (2)(B)(i), by inserting ‘‘, 20
$25,000 for a first violation, if the violation involved 21
a facility described in subsection (a)(3) that exclu-22
sively provides abortion-alternative services or in-23
volved a place of religious worship and did not in-24
volve exclusively a nonviolent physical obstruction,’’ 25
after ‘‘physical obstruction’’. 26
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SEC. 3. DESTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS, VEHICLES, AND 1
PROPERTY. 2
Section 844(i) of title 18, United States Code, is 3
amended by inserting ‘‘or if the building is a facility de-4
scribed in section 248(a)(3) that exclusively provides abor-5
tion-alternative services or is a place of religious worship,’’ 6
before ‘‘shall be imprisoned for not less than 7 years’’. 7
Æ
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