I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 797
To ensure that women seeking an abortion are notified, before giving informed
consent to receive an abortion, of the medical risks associated with
the abortion procedure and the major developmental characteristics of
the unborn child.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY28, 2025
Mrs. M
ILLERof Illinois (for herself, Mr. BABIN, Mr. FINSTAD, Mr. RUTHER-
FORD, Mr. MOOREof Alabama, Mr. MOOREof West Virginia, Mr.
O
GLES, Mr. WEBSTERof Florida, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. SELF, Mr. HARRIS
of Maryland, and Mr. W
EBERof Texas) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To ensure that women seeking an abortion are notified,
before giving informed consent to receive an abortion,
of the medical risks associated with the abortion proce-
dure and the major developmental characteristics of the
unborn child.
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 ‘‘Ultrasounds Save 4
Lives Act of 2025’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Feb 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H797.IH H797
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
•HR 797 IH
SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT OF INFORMED CONSENT. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.— 2
(1) R
EQUIREMENT OF COMPLIANCE BY PRO -3
VIDERS.—Any abortion provider, acting in or affect-4
ing interstate or foreign commerce, who knowingly 5
performs, or attempts to perform, any abortion shall 6
comply with the requirements of this section. 7
(2) R
EVIEW OF MEDICAL RISKS AND UNBORN 8
HEALTH STATUS.—Except in the case of a medical 9
emergency, an abortion provider who intends to per-10
form, or attempt to perform, an abortion may not 11
perform any part of the abortion procedure without 12
first— 13
(A) performing an ultrasound on the 14
woman seeking the abortion, using whichever 15
method the physician and patient agree is best 16
under the circumstance, and sharing the results 17
of such ultrasound with the woman; and 18
(B) obtaining a signed Informed Consent 19
Authorization form in accordance with this sub-20
section. 21
(3) I
NFORMED CONSENT AUTHORIZATION 22
FORM.— 23
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Informed Consent 24
Authorization form required under this sub-25
section shall— 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Feb 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H797.IH H797
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
•HR 797 IH
(i) be presented in person by the abor-1
tion provider 24 hours prior to performing, 2
or attempting to perform, the abortion to 3
the woman seeking the abortion; and 4
(ii) consist of— 5
(I) a statement by the abortion 6
provider indicating— 7
(aa) the probable gestational 8
age, in completed days, of the 9
child; 10
(bb) all medical risks associ-11
ated with abortion-inducing 12
drugs or the specific abortion 13
procedure; and 14
(cc) the major developmental 15
characteristics of unborn children 16
at such gestational age, including 17
the presence of a heartbeat, the 18
ability to react to painful stimuli, 19
and the development of organs, 20
appendages, and facial features; 21
(II) a statement by the abortion 22
provider that an ultrasound has been 23
performed, and the results of such 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Feb 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H797.IH H797
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
•HR 797 IH
ultrasound have been shared, as re-1
quired by paragraph (2)(A); 2
(III) a statement that the re-3
quirements of this subsection are 4
binding upon the abortion provider 5
and all other medical personnel, that 6
such abortion providers and medical 7
personnel are subject to criminal and 8
civil penalties for violations of these 9
requirements, and that a woman on 10
whom an abortion has been performed 11
may take civil action if these require-12
ments are not followed; and 13
(IV) an affirmation that each in-14
dividual signing the Informed Consent 15
Authorization form has filled out the 16
form to the best of his or her knowl-17
edge and understands the information 18
contained in the form. 19
(B) S
IGNATORIES REQUIRED .—The In-20
formed Consent Authorization form required 21
under this subsection shall be signed in person 22
by the woman seeking the abortion, the abor-23
tion provider performing or attempting to per-24
form the abortion, and a witness. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Feb 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H797.IH H797
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
•HR 797 IH
(C) RETENTION OF CONSENT FORM .—The 1
abortion provider performing or attempting to 2
perform an abortion shall retain the signed In-3
formed Consent Authorization form required 4
under this subsection in the patient’s medical 5
file. 6
(D) R
EQUIREMENT FOR DATA RETEN -7
TION.—Paragraph (j)(2) of section 164.530 of 8
title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, shall 9
apply to the Informed Consent Authorization 10
form required to be placed in a patient’s med-11
ical file pursuant to subparagraph (C) in the 12
same manner and to the same extent as such 13
paragraph applies to documentation required by 14
paragraph (j)(1) of such section. 15
(4) E
XCEPTIONS.—The requirements of this 16
subsection shall not apply if, in reasonable medical 17
judgment, compliance with paragraph (2) would pose 18
a greater risk of— 19
(A) the death of the pregnant woman; or 20
(B) the substantial and irreversible phys-21
ical impairment of a major bodily function, not 22
including psychological or emotional conditions, 23
of the pregnant woman. 24
(b) P
ENALTY FORFAILURETOCOMPLY.— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Feb 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H797.IH H797
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
•HR 797 IH
(1) CIVIL PENALTY.— 1
(A) E
NFORCEMENT BY ATTORNEY GEN -2
ERAL.—The Attorney General shall commence 3
a civil action in an appropriate district court of 4
the United States under this subsection against 5
any abortion provider who knowingly commits a 6
violation of subsection (a). 7
(B) P
ENALTY.—In a civil action under 8
subparagraph (A), the court may, to vindicate 9
the public interest, assess a civil penalty against 10
the abortion provider in an amount— 11
(i) not less than $100,000 and not 12
more than $150,000, for each such viola-13
tion that is adjudicated in the first pro-14
ceeding against such abortion provider 15
under this subsection; or 16
(ii) not less than $150,001 and not 17
more than $250,000, for each such viola-18
tion that is adjudicated in a subsequent 19
proceeding against such abortion provider 20
under this subsection. 21
(C) N
OTIFICATION.—Upon the assessment 22
of a civil penalty under subparagraph (B), the 23
Attorney General shall notify the appropriate 24
State medical licensing authority. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Feb 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H797.IH H797
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7
•HR 797 IH
(D) NO PENALTIES FOR PREGNANT 1
WOMEN.—A pregnant woman shall not be sub-2
ject to any penalty under this section. 3
(2) P
RIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 4
(A) I
N GENERAL.—A woman or a parent 5
of a minor upon whom an abortion has been 6
performed in violation of subsection (a) may 7
commence a civil action against the abortion 8
provider for appropriate relief. 9
(B) A
PPROPRIATE RELIEF.— 10
(i) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to clause 11
(ii), appropriate relief in a civil action 12
under this paragraph includes— 13
(I) objectively verifiable money 14
damages for all injuries, psychological 15
and physical, occasioned by the viola-16
tion; 17
(II) statutory damages equal to 3 18
times the cost of the abortion; and 19
(III) punitive damages. 20
(ii) E
XCEPTION.—No damages may 21
be awarded to a plaintiff in a civil action 22
under this paragraph if the pregnancy in 23
relation to which an abortion was per-24
formed in violation of subsection (a) re-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Feb 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H797.IH H797
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8
•HR 797 IH
sulted from the plaintiff’s criminal con-1
duct. 2
(C) A
TTORNEY’S FEES FOR PLAINTIFF .— 3
The court shall award a reasonable attorney’s 4
fee as part of the costs to a prevailing plaintiff 5
in a civil action under this paragraph. 6
(D) A
TTORNEY’S FEES FOR DEFEND -7
ANT.—If a defendant in a civil action under 8
this paragraph prevails and the court finds that 9
the plaintiff’s suit was frivolous, the court shall 10
award a reasonable attorney’s fee in favor of 11
the defendant against the plaintiff. 12
(E) A
WARDS AGAINST WOMAN .—In any 13
civil action under this paragraph, no damages 14
or other monetary relief, and no attorney’s fees 15
except as provided under subparagraph (D), 16
may be assessed against the woman upon whom 17
the abortion was performed or attempted. 18
(c) P
REEMPTION.—Nothing in this section shall be 19
construed to preempt any provision of State law to the 20
extent that such State law establishes, implements, or con-21
tinues in effect disclosure requirements regarding abortion 22
or penalties for failure to comply with such requirements 23
that are more extensive than those provided under this 24
section. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Feb 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H797.IH H797
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9
•HR 797 IH
(d) RULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-1
tion shall be construed to prohibit an abortion provider 2
from presenting the information required under subsection 3
(a) to a pregnant woman at the same time as acquiring 4
informed consent for an abortion from such woman in ac-5
cordance with State law, provided that the presentation 6
of such information occurs at least 24 hours before the 7
abortion. 8
(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 9
(1) A
BORTION.—The term ‘‘abortion’’ means 10
the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, 11
drug, or any other substance or device— 12
(A) to intentionally kill the unborn child of 13
a woman known to be pregnant; or 14
(B) to intentionally terminate the preg-15
nancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with 16
an intention other than— 17
(i) after viability to produce a live 18
birth and preserve the life and health of 19
the child born alive; or 20
(ii) to remove a dead unborn child. 21
(2) A
BORTION PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘abortion 22
provider’’ means a person— 23
(A) licensed to practice medicine and sur-24
gery or osteopathic medicine and surgery; or 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Feb 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H797.IH H797
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 10
•HR 797 IH
(B) otherwise legally authorized to perform 1
an abortion. 2
(3) A
TTEMPT.—The term ‘‘attempt’’, with re-3
spect to an abortion, means conduct that, under the 4
circumstances as the actor believes them to be, con-5
stitutes a substantial step in a course of conduct 6
planned to culminate in performing an abortion. 7
(4) M
INOR.—The term ‘‘minor’’ means an indi-8
vidual who has not attained the age of 18 years. 9
(5) P
ERFORM.—The term ‘‘perform’’, with re-10
spect to an abortion, includes inducing an abortion 11
through a medical or chemical intervention including 12
writing a prescription for a drug or device intended 13
to result in an abortion. 14
(6) R
EASONABLE MEDICAL JUDGMENT .—The 15
term ‘‘reasonable medical judgment’’ means a med-16
ical judgment that would be made by a reasonably 17
prudent abortion provider, knowledgeable about the 18
case and the treatment possibilities with respect to 19
the medical conditions involved. 20
(7) U
NBORN CHILD.—The term ‘‘unborn child’’ 21
means an individual organism of the species homo 22
sapiens, beginning at fertilization, until the point of 23
being born alive as defined in section 8(b) of title 1, 24
United States Code. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Feb 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H797.IH H797
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 11
•HR 797 IH
(8) WOMAN.—The term ‘‘woman’’ means a fe-1
male human being whether or not she has reached 2
the age of majority. 3
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Feb 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H797.IH H797
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS