Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB6 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	Calendar No. 4
3	3	119THCONGRESS
4	4	1
5	5	STSESSION S. 6
6	6	To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health care practitioner
7	7	from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a
8	8	child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.
9	9	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
10	10	JANUARY15, 2025
11	11	Mr. L
12	12	ANKFORD(for himself, Mr. BANKS, Mr. THUNE, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mr.
13	13	R
14	14	ISCH, Ms. LUMMIS, Mrs. BRITT, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. WICKER, Mrs.
15	15	B
16	16	LACKBURN, Mr. CRAPO, Mrs. FISCHER, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. HOEVEN,
17	17	Mr. M
18	18	ARSHALL, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. BUDD, Mr. SCOTTof South Carolina,
19	19	Mr. J
20	20	OHNSON, Mr. SHEEHY, Mr. TUBERVILLE, Mr. HAGERTY, Mr. CUR-
21	21	TIS, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. RICKETTS, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. KEN-
22	22	NEDY, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. ROUNDS, Ms. ERNST, Mr. SCOTT
23	23	of Florida, Mr. D
24	24	AINES, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. CRUZ, Mr.
25	25	S
26	26	CHMITT, Mr. LEE, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. MORAN, Mr. COTTON, Mr.
27	27	H
28	28	AWLEY, Mr. MCCORMICK, and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced the following
29	29	bill; which was read the first time
30	30	J
31	31	ANUARY16, 2025
32	32	Read the second time and placed on the calendar
33	33	A BILL
34	34	To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health
35	35	care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper de-
36	36	gree of care in the case of a child who survives an
37	37	abortion or attempted abortion.
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41	41	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
42	42	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
43	43	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
44	44	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Born-Alive Abortion 4
45	45	Survivors Protection Act’’. 5
46	46	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
47	47	Congress finds the following: 7
48	48	(1) If an abortion results in the live birth of an 8
49	49	infant, the infant is a legal person for all purposes 9
50	50	under the laws of the United States, and entitled to 10
51	51	all the protections of such laws. 11
52	52	(2) Any infant born alive after an abortion or 12
53	53	within a hospital, clinic, or other facility has the 13
54	54	same claim to the protection of the law that would 14
55	55	arise for any newborn, or for any person who comes 15
56	56	to a hospital, clinic, or other facility for screening 16
57	57	and treatment or otherwise becomes a patient within 17
58	58	its care. 18
59	59	SEC. 3. BORN-ALIVE INFANTS PROTECTION. 19
60	60	(a) R
61	61	EQUIREMENTS PERTAINING TO BORN-ALIVE 20
62	62	A
63	63	BORTIONSURVIVORS.—Chapter 74 of title 18, United 21
64	64	States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1531 22
65	65	the following: 23
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69	69	‘‘§ 1532. Requirements pertaining to born-alive abor-1
70	70	tion survivors 2
71	71	‘‘(a) R
72	72	EQUIREMENTS FOR HEALTHCAREPRACTI-3
73	73	TIONERS.—In the case of an abortion or attempted abor-4
74	74	tion that results in a child born alive: 5
75	75	‘‘(1) D
76	76	EGREE OF CARE REQUIRED ; IMMEDIATE 6
77	77	ADMISSION TO A HOSPITAL.—Any health care practi-7
78	78	tioner present at the time the child is born alive 8
79	79	shall— 9
80	80	‘‘(A) exercise the same degree of profes-10
81	81	sional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the 11
82	82	life and health of the child as a reasonably dili-12
83	83	gent and conscientious health care practitioner 13
84	84	would render to any other child born alive at 14
85	85	the same gestational age; and 15
86	86	‘‘(B) following the exercise of skill, care, 16
87	87	and diligence required under subparagraph (A), 17
88	88	ensure that the child born alive is immediately 18
89	89	transported and admitted to a hospital. 19
90	90	‘‘(2) M
91	91	ANDATORY REPORTING OF VIOLA -20
92	92	TIONS.—A health care practitioner or any employee 21
93	93	of a hospital, a physician’s office, or an abortion 22
94	94	clinic who has knowledge of a failure to comply with 23
95	95	the requirements of paragraph (1) shall immediately 24
96	96	report the failure to an appropriate State or Federal 25
97	97	law enforcement agency, or to both. 26
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101	101	‘‘(b) PENALTIES.— 1
102	102	‘‘(1) I
103	103	N GENERAL.—Whoever violates subsection 2
104	104	(a) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not 3
105	105	more than 5 years, or both. 4
106	106	‘‘(2) I
107	107	NTENTIONAL KILLING OF CHILD BORN 5
108	108	ALIVE.—Whoever intentionally performs or attempts 6
109	109	to perform an overt act that kills a child born alive 7
110	110	described under subsection (a), shall be punished as 8
111	111	under section 1111 of this title for intentionally kill-9
112	112	ing or attempting to kill a human being. 10
113	113	‘‘(c) B
114	114	AR TOPROSECUTION.—The mother of a child 11
115	115	born alive described under subsection (a) may not be pros-12
116	116	ecuted for a violation of this section, an attempt to violate 13
117	117	this section, a conspiracy to violate this section, or an of-14
118	118	fense under section 3 or 4 of this title based on such a 15
119	119	violation. 16
120	120	‘‘(d) C
121	121	IVILREMEDIES.— 17
122	122	‘‘(1) C
123	123	IVIL ACTION BY A WOMAN ON WHOM AN 18
124	124	ABORTION IS PERFORMED .—If a child is born alive 19
125	125	and there is a violation of subsection (a), the woman 20
126	126	upon whom the abortion was performed or at-21
127	127	tempted may, in a civil action against any person 22
128	128	who committed the violation, obtain appropriate re-23
129	129	lief. 24
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133	133	‘‘(2) APPROPRIATE RELIEF.—Appropriate relief 1
134	134	in a civil action under this subsection includes— 2
135	135	‘‘(A) objectively verifiable money damage 3
136	136	for all injuries, psychological and physical, occa-4
137	137	sioned by the violation of subsection (a); 5
138	138	‘‘(B) statutory damages equal to 3 times 6
139	139	the cost of the abortion or attempted abortion; 7
140	140	and 8
141	141	‘‘(C) punitive damages. 9
142	142	‘‘(3) A
143	143	TTORNEY’S FEE FOR PLAINTIFF .—The 10
144	144	court shall award a reasonable attorney’s fee to a 11
145	145	prevailing plaintiff in a civil action under this sub-12
146	146	section. 13
147	147	‘‘(4) A
148	148	TTORNEY’S FEE FOR DEFENDANT .—If a 14
149	149	defendant in a civil action under this subsection pre-15
150	150	vails and the court finds that the plaintiff’s suit was 16
151	151	frivolous, the court shall award a reasonable attor-17
152	152	ney’s fee in favor of the defendant against the plain-18
153	153	tiff. 19
154	154	‘‘(e) D
155	155	EFINITIONS.—In this section the following 20
156	156	definitions apply: 21
157	157	‘‘(1) A
158	158	BORTION.—The term ‘abortion’ means 22
159	159	the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, 23
160	160	drug, or any other substance or device— 24
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164	164	‘‘(A) to intentionally kill the unborn child 1
165	165	of a woman known to be pregnant; or 2
166	166	‘‘(B) to intentionally terminate the preg-3
167	167	nancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with 4
168	168	an intention other than— 5
169	169	‘‘(i) after viability, to produce a live 6
170	170	birth and preserve the life and health of 7
171	171	the child born alive; or 8
172	172	‘‘(ii) to remove a dead unborn child. 9
173	173	‘‘(2) A
174	174	TTEMPT.—The term ‘attempt’, with re-10
175	175	spect to an abortion, means conduct that, under the 11
176	176	circumstances as the actor believes them to be, con-12
177	177	stitutes a substantial step in a course of conduct 13
178	178	planned to culminate in performing an abortion. 14
179	179	‘‘(3) B
180	180	ORN ALIVE.—The term ‘born alive’ has 15
181	181	the meaning given that term in section 8 of title 1, 16
182	182	United States Code (commonly known as the ‘Born- 17
183	183	Alive Infants Protection Act’).’’. 18
184	184	(b) C
185	185	ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 19
186	186	(1) The table of sections for chapter 74 of title 20
187	187	18, United States Code, is amended by adding at 21
188	188	the end the following: 22
189	189	‘‘1532. Requirements pertaining to born-alive abortion survivors.’’.
190	190	(2) The chapter heading for chapter 74 of title 23
191	191	18, United States Code, is amended by striking 24
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195	195	‘‘PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTIONS ’’ and insert-1
196	196	ing ‘‘ABORTIONS ’’. 2
197	197	(3) The table of chapters for part I of title 18, 3
198	198	United States Code, is amended by striking the item 4
199	199	relating to chapter 74 and inserting the following: 5
200	200	‘‘74. Abortion.......................................................................................1531’’.
201	201	SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.
202	202	6
203	203	This Act shall take effect one day after the date of 7
204	204	enactment. 8
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207	207	4
208	208	119
209	209	TH
210	210	CONGRESS
211	211	1
212	212	ST
213	213	S
214	214	ESSION
215	215
216	216	S. 6 A BILL
217	217	To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit
218	218	a health care practitioner from failing to exercise
219	219	the proper degree of care in the case of a child
220	220	who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.
221	221	J
222	222	ANUARY
223	223	16, 2025
224	224	Read the second time and placed on the calendar
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