Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB797 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 797
55 To ensure that women seeking an abortion are notified, before giving informed
66 consent to receive an abortion, of the medical risks associated with
77 the abortion procedure and the major developmental characteristics of
88 the unborn child.
99 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1010 JANUARY28, 2025
1111 Mrs. M
1212 ILLERof Illinois (for herself, Mr. BABIN, Mr. FINSTAD, Mr. RUTHER-
1313 FORD, Mr. MOOREof Alabama, Mr. MOOREof West Virginia, Mr.
1414 O
1515 GLES, Mr. WEBSTERof Florida, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. SELF, Mr. HARRIS
1616 of Maryland, and Mr. W
1717 EBERof Texas) introduced the following bill;
1818 which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
1919 A BILL
2020 To ensure that women seeking an abortion are notified,
2121 before giving informed consent to receive an abortion,
2222 of the medical risks associated with the abortion proce-
2323 dure and the major developmental characteristics of the
2424 unborn child.
2525 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2626 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2727 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2828 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ultrasounds Save 4
2929 Lives Act of 2025’’. 5
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3333 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT OF INFORMED CONSENT. 1
3434 (a) I
3535 NGENERAL.— 2
3636 (1) R
3737 EQUIREMENT OF COMPLIANCE BY PRO -3
3838 VIDERS.—Any abortion provider, acting in or affect-4
3939 ing interstate or foreign commerce, who knowingly 5
4040 performs, or attempts to perform, any abortion shall 6
4141 comply with the requirements of this section. 7
4242 (2) R
4343 EVIEW OF MEDICAL RISKS AND UNBORN 8
4444 HEALTH STATUS.—Except in the case of a medical 9
4545 emergency, an abortion provider who intends to per-10
4646 form, or attempt to perform, an abortion may not 11
4747 perform any part of the abortion procedure without 12
4848 first— 13
4949 (A) performing an ultrasound on the 14
5050 woman seeking the abortion, using whichever 15
5151 method the physician and patient agree is best 16
5252 under the circumstance, and sharing the results 17
5353 of such ultrasound with the woman; and 18
5454 (B) obtaining a signed Informed Consent 19
5555 Authorization form in accordance with this sub-20
5656 section. 21
5757 (3) I
5858 NFORMED CONSENT AUTHORIZATION 22
5959 FORM.— 23
6060 (A) I
6161 N GENERAL.—The Informed Consent 24
6262 Authorization form required under this sub-25
6363 section shall— 26
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6767 (i) be presented in person by the abor-1
6868 tion provider 24 hours prior to performing, 2
6969 or attempting to perform, the abortion to 3
7070 the woman seeking the abortion; and 4
7171 (ii) consist of— 5
7272 (I) a statement by the abortion 6
7373 provider indicating— 7
7474 (aa) the probable gestational 8
7575 age, in completed days, of the 9
7676 child; 10
7777 (bb) all medical risks associ-11
7878 ated with abortion-inducing 12
7979 drugs or the specific abortion 13
8080 procedure; and 14
8181 (cc) the major developmental 15
8282 characteristics of unborn children 16
8383 at such gestational age, including 17
8484 the presence of a heartbeat, the 18
8585 ability to react to painful stimuli, 19
8686 and the development of organs, 20
8787 appendages, and facial features; 21
8888 (II) a statement by the abortion 22
8989 provider that an ultrasound has been 23
9090 performed, and the results of such 24
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9494 ultrasound have been shared, as re-1
9595 quired by paragraph (2)(A); 2
9696 (III) a statement that the re-3
9797 quirements of this subsection are 4
9898 binding upon the abortion provider 5
9999 and all other medical personnel, that 6
100100 such abortion providers and medical 7
101101 personnel are subject to criminal and 8
102102 civil penalties for violations of these 9
103103 requirements, and that a woman on 10
104104 whom an abortion has been performed 11
105105 may take civil action if these require-12
106106 ments are not followed; and 13
107107 (IV) an affirmation that each in-14
108108 dividual signing the Informed Consent 15
109109 Authorization form has filled out the 16
110110 form to the best of his or her knowl-17
111111 edge and understands the information 18
112112 contained in the form. 19
113113 (B) S
114114 IGNATORIES REQUIRED .—The In-20
115115 formed Consent Authorization form required 21
116116 under this subsection shall be signed in person 22
117117 by the woman seeking the abortion, the abor-23
118118 tion provider performing or attempting to per-24
119119 form the abortion, and a witness. 25
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123123 (C) RETENTION OF CONSENT FORM .—The 1
124124 abortion provider performing or attempting to 2
125125 perform an abortion shall retain the signed In-3
126126 formed Consent Authorization form required 4
127127 under this subsection in the patient’s medical 5
128128 file. 6
129129 (D) R
130130 EQUIREMENT FOR DATA RETEN -7
131131 TION.—Paragraph (j)(2) of section 164.530 of 8
132132 title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, shall 9
133133 apply to the Informed Consent Authorization 10
134134 form required to be placed in a patient’s med-11
135135 ical file pursuant to subparagraph (C) in the 12
136136 same manner and to the same extent as such 13
137137 paragraph applies to documentation required by 14
138138 paragraph (j)(1) of such section. 15
139139 (4) E
140140 XCEPTIONS.—The requirements of this 16
141141 subsection shall not apply if, in reasonable medical 17
142142 judgment, compliance with paragraph (2) would pose 18
143143 a greater risk of— 19
144144 (A) the death of the pregnant woman; or 20
145145 (B) the substantial and irreversible phys-21
146146 ical impairment of a major bodily function, not 22
147147 including psychological or emotional conditions, 23
148148 of the pregnant woman. 24
149149 (b) P
150150 ENALTY FORFAILURETOCOMPLY.— 25
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154154 (1) CIVIL PENALTY.— 1
155155 (A) E
156156 NFORCEMENT BY ATTORNEY GEN -2
157157 ERAL.—The Attorney General shall commence 3
158158 a civil action in an appropriate district court of 4
159159 the United States under this subsection against 5
160160 any abortion provider who knowingly commits a 6
161161 violation of subsection (a). 7
162162 (B) P
163163 ENALTY.—In a civil action under 8
164164 subparagraph (A), the court may, to vindicate 9
165165 the public interest, assess a civil penalty against 10
166166 the abortion provider in an amount— 11
167167 (i) not less than $100,000 and not 12
168168 more than $150,000, for each such viola-13
169169 tion that is adjudicated in the first pro-14
170170 ceeding against such abortion provider 15
171171 under this subsection; or 16
172172 (ii) not less than $150,001 and not 17
173173 more than $250,000, for each such viola-18
174174 tion that is adjudicated in a subsequent 19
175175 proceeding against such abortion provider 20
176176 under this subsection. 21
177177 (C) N
178178 OTIFICATION.—Upon the assessment 22
179179 of a civil penalty under subparagraph (B), the 23
180180 Attorney General shall notify the appropriate 24
181181 State medical licensing authority. 25
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185185 (D) NO PENALTIES FOR PREGNANT 1
186186 WOMEN.—A pregnant woman shall not be sub-2
187187 ject to any penalty under this section. 3
188188 (2) P
189189 RIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 4
190190 (A) I
191191 N GENERAL.—A woman or a parent 5
192192 of a minor upon whom an abortion has been 6
193193 performed in violation of subsection (a) may 7
194194 commence a civil action against the abortion 8
195195 provider for appropriate relief. 9
196196 (B) A
197197 PPROPRIATE RELIEF.— 10
198198 (i) I
199199 N GENERAL.—Subject to clause 11
200200 (ii), appropriate relief in a civil action 12
201201 under this paragraph includes— 13
202202 (I) objectively verifiable money 14
203203 damages for all injuries, psychological 15
204204 and physical, occasioned by the viola-16
205205 tion; 17
206206 (II) statutory damages equal to 3 18
207207 times the cost of the abortion; and 19
208208 (III) punitive damages. 20
209209 (ii) E
210210 XCEPTION.—No damages may 21
211211 be awarded to a plaintiff in a civil action 22
212212 under this paragraph if the pregnancy in 23
213213 relation to which an abortion was per-24
214214 formed in violation of subsection (a) re-25
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218218 sulted from the plaintiff’s criminal con-1
219219 duct. 2
220220 (C) A
221221 TTORNEY’S FEES FOR PLAINTIFF .— 3
222222 The court shall award a reasonable attorney’s 4
223223 fee as part of the costs to a prevailing plaintiff 5
224224 in a civil action under this paragraph. 6
225225 (D) A
226226 TTORNEY’S FEES FOR DEFEND -7
227227 ANT.—If a defendant in a civil action under 8
228228 this paragraph prevails and the court finds that 9
229229 the plaintiff’s suit was frivolous, the court shall 10
230230 award a reasonable attorney’s fee in favor of 11
231231 the defendant against the plaintiff. 12
232232 (E) A
233233 WARDS AGAINST WOMAN .—In any 13
234234 civil action under this paragraph, no damages 14
235235 or other monetary relief, and no attorney’s fees 15
236236 except as provided under subparagraph (D), 16
237237 may be assessed against the woman upon whom 17
238238 the abortion was performed or attempted. 18
239239 (c) P
240240 REEMPTION.—Nothing in this section shall be 19
241241 construed to preempt any provision of State law to the 20
242242 extent that such State law establishes, implements, or con-21
243243 tinues in effect disclosure requirements regarding abortion 22
244244 or penalties for failure to comply with such requirements 23
245245 that are more extensive than those provided under this 24
246246 section. 25
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250250 (d) RULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-1
251251 tion shall be construed to prohibit an abortion provider 2
252252 from presenting the information required under subsection 3
253253 (a) to a pregnant woman at the same time as acquiring 4
254254 informed consent for an abortion from such woman in ac-5
255255 cordance with State law, provided that the presentation 6
256256 of such information occurs at least 24 hours before the 7
257257 abortion. 8
258258 (e) D
259259 EFINITIONS.—In this section: 9
260260 (1) A
261261 BORTION.—The term ‘‘abortion’’ means 10
262262 the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, 11
263263 drug, or any other substance or device— 12
264264 (A) to intentionally kill the unborn child of 13
265265 a woman known to be pregnant; or 14
266266 (B) to intentionally terminate the preg-15
267267 nancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with 16
268268 an intention other than— 17
269269 (i) after viability to produce a live 18
270270 birth and preserve the life and health of 19
271271 the child born alive; or 20
272272 (ii) to remove a dead unborn child. 21
273273 (2) A
274274 BORTION PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘abortion 22
275275 provider’’ means a person— 23
276276 (A) licensed to practice medicine and sur-24
277277 gery or osteopathic medicine and surgery; or 25
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281281 (B) otherwise legally authorized to perform 1
282282 an abortion. 2
283283 (3) A
284284 TTEMPT.—The term ‘‘attempt’’, with re-3
285285 spect to an abortion, means conduct that, under the 4
286286 circumstances as the actor believes them to be, con-5
287287 stitutes a substantial step in a course of conduct 6
288288 planned to culminate in performing an abortion. 7
289289 (4) M
290290 INOR.—The term ‘‘minor’’ means an indi-8
291291 vidual who has not attained the age of 18 years. 9
292292 (5) P
293293 ERFORM.—The term ‘‘perform’’, with re-10
294294 spect to an abortion, includes inducing an abortion 11
295295 through a medical or chemical intervention including 12
296296 writing a prescription for a drug or device intended 13
297297 to result in an abortion. 14
298298 (6) R
299299 EASONABLE MEDICAL JUDGMENT .—The 15
300300 term ‘‘reasonable medical judgment’’ means a med-16
301301 ical judgment that would be made by a reasonably 17
302302 prudent abortion provider, knowledgeable about the 18
303303 case and the treatment possibilities with respect to 19
304304 the medical conditions involved. 20
305305 (7) U
306306 NBORN CHILD.—The term ‘‘unborn child’’ 21
307307 means an individual organism of the species homo 22
308308 sapiens, beginning at fertilization, until the point of 23
309309 being born alive as defined in section 8(b) of title 1, 24
310310 United States Code. 25
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314314 (8) WOMAN.—The term ‘‘woman’’ means a fe-1
315315 male human being whether or not she has reached 2
316316 the age of majority. 3
317317 Æ
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