I 119THCONGRESS 1 STSESSION H. R. 729 To prohibit chemical abortions performed without the presence of a healthcare provider, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY24, 2025 Mr. H ARRISof North Carolina (for himself, Mr. CLYDE, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. W EBSTERof Florida, Mr. GILLof Texas, Mrs. MILLERof Illinois, Mr. C LOUD, Ms. HAGEMAN, Mr. DAVIDSON, and Mr. ONDER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To prohibit chemical abortions performed without the presence of a healthcare provider, 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 ‘‘Teleabortion Preven-4 tion Act of 2025’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:05 Feb 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H729.IH H729 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 729 IH SEC. 2. CHEMICAL ABORTIONS PROHIBITED WITHOUT A 1 HEALTHCARE PROVIDER PRESENT. 2 (a) C HEMICALABORTIONSPROHIBITEDWITHOUT A 3 P HYSICIANPRESENT.—Chapter 74 of title 18, United 4 States Code, is amended— 5 (1) in the chapter heading by striking ‘‘PAR-6 TIAL-BIRTH’’; and 7 (2) by inserting after section 1531 the fol-8 lowing: 9 ‘‘§ 1532. Chemical abortions prohibited without a 10 healthcare provider physically present 11 ‘‘(a) O FFENSE.—Any healthcare provider who, in or 12 affecting interstate or foreign commerce, who knowingly 13 provides or attempts to provide a chemical abortion— 14 ‘‘(1) without physically examining the patient; 15 ‘‘(2) without being physically present at the lo-16 cation of the chemical abortion; and 17 ‘‘(3) without scheduling a follow-up visit for the 18 patient to occur not more than 14 days after the ad-19 ministration or use of the drug to assess the pa-20 tient’s physical condition, 21 shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not 22 more than 2 years, or both. This subsection does not apply 23 to a chemical abortion that is necessary to save the life 24 of a mother whose life is endangered by a physical dis-25 order, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:05 Feb 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H729.IH H729 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 729 IH endangering physical condition caused by or arising from 1 the pregnancy itself. 2 ‘‘(b) N OLIABILITY OF THE PATIENT.—A patient 3 upon whom an abortion is performed may not be pros-4 ecuted under this section or for a conspiracy to violate 5 this section. 6 ‘‘(c) D EFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 ‘‘(1) A BORTION DRUG.—The term ‘abortion 8 drug’ means any medicine, drug or any other sub-9 stance, or any combination of drugs, medicines or 10 substances, when it is used— 11 ‘‘(A) to intentionally kill the unborn child 12 of a woman known to be pregnant; or 13 ‘‘(B) to intentionally terminate the preg-14 nancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with 15 an intention other than— 16 ‘‘(i) to produce a live birth; or 17 ‘‘(ii) to remove a dead unborn child. 18 ‘‘(2) A TTEMPTS TO PROVIDE .—In this section, 19 the term ‘attempts to provide’, means conduct that, 20 under the circumstances as the actor believes them 21 to be, constitutes a substantial step in a course of 22 conduct planned to culminate in a chemical abortion. 23 ‘‘(3) H EALTHCARE PROVIDER .—The term 24 ‘healthcare provider’ means any person licensed to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:05 Feb 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H729.IH H729 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 729 IH prescribe prescription drugs under applicable Fed-1 eral and State laws. 2 ‘‘(4) P ROVIDE.—In this section, the term ‘pro-3 vide’, means to dispense or prescribe an abortion 4 drug, or to otherwise make an abortion drug avail-5 able to a patient. 6 ‘‘(5) C HEMICAL ABORTION .—The term ‘chem-7 ical abortion’ refers to the use of an abortion drug 8 to— 9 ‘‘(A) intentionally kill the unborn child of 10 a woman known to be pregnant; or 11 ‘‘(B) intentionally terminate the pregnancy 12 of a woman known to be pregnant, with an in-13 tention other than— 14 ‘‘(i) to produce a live birth; or 15 ‘‘(ii) to remove a dead unborn child. 16 ‘‘(6) U NBORN CHILD.—The term ‘unborn child’ 17 means an individual organism of the species homo 18 sapiens, beginning at fertilization, until the point of 19 being born alive as defined in section 8(b). 20 ‘‘(d) R ULE OFCONSTRUCTIONREGARDINGECTOPIC 21 P REGNANCY.—Nothing in this section shall be construed 22 to have any impact on the treatment of a verified ectopic 23 pregnancy. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:05 Feb 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H729.IH H729 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 729 IH ‘‘(e) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this section 1 or the application of such provision to any person or cir-2 cumstance is held to be invalid, the remainder of this sec-3 tion and the application of the provisions of the remainder 4 to any person or circumstance shall not be affected there-5 by.’’. 6 (b) C LERICALAMENDMENTS.— 7 (1) C HAPTER 74.—The table of sections for 8 such chapter is amended by inserting after the item 9 relating to section 1531 the following: 10 ‘‘1532. Chemical abortions prohibited without a healthcare provider physically present.’’. (2) PART I.—The table of chapters for part I 11 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by strik-12 ing the item relating to chapter 74, and inserting 13 the following: 14 ‘‘74. Abortions .......................................................................................... 1531’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:05 Feb 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H729.IH H729 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB