II
Calendar No. 4
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 6
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health care practitioner
from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a
child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY15, 2025
Mr. L
ANKFORD(for himself, Mr. BANKS, Mr. THUNE, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mr.
R
ISCH, Ms. LUMMIS, Mrs. BRITT, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. WICKER, Mrs.
B
LACKBURN, Mr. CRAPO, Mrs. FISCHER, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. HOEVEN,
Mr. M
ARSHALL, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. BUDD, Mr. SCOTTof South Carolina,
Mr. J
OHNSON, Mr. SHEEHY, Mr. TUBERVILLE, Mr. HAGERTY, Mr. CUR-
TIS, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. RICKETTS, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. KEN-
NEDY, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. ROUNDS, Ms. ERNST, Mr. SCOTT
of Florida, Mr. D
AINES, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. CRUZ, Mr.
S
CHMITT, Mr. LEE, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. MORAN, Mr. COTTON, Mr.
H
AWLEY, Mr. MCCORMICK, and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced the following
bill; which was read the first time
J
ANUARY16, 2025
Read the second time and placed on the calendar
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health
care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper de-
gree of care in the case of a child who survives an
abortion or attempted abortion.
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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 ‘‘Born-Alive Abortion 4
Survivors Protection Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
(1) If an abortion results in the live birth of an 8
infant, the infant is a legal person for all purposes 9
under the laws of the United States, and entitled to 10
all the protections of such laws. 11
(2) Any infant born alive after an abortion or 12
within a hospital, clinic, or other facility has the 13
same claim to the protection of the law that would 14
arise for any newborn, or for any person who comes 15
to a hospital, clinic, or other facility for screening 16
and treatment or otherwise becomes a patient within 17
its care. 18
SEC. 3. BORN-ALIVE INFANTS PROTECTION. 19
(a) R
EQUIREMENTS PERTAINING TO BORN-ALIVE 20
A
BORTIONSURVIVORS.—Chapter 74 of title 18, United 21
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1531 22
the following: 23
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‘‘§ 1532. Requirements pertaining to born-alive abor-1
tion survivors 2
‘‘(a) R
EQUIREMENTS FOR HEALTHCAREPRACTI-3
TIONERS.—In the case of an abortion or attempted abor-4
tion that results in a child born alive: 5
‘‘(1) D
EGREE OF CARE REQUIRED ; IMMEDIATE 6
ADMISSION TO A HOSPITAL.—Any health care practi-7
tioner present at the time the child is born alive 8
shall— 9
‘‘(A) exercise the same degree of profes-10
sional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the 11
life and health of the child as a reasonably dili-12
gent and conscientious health care practitioner 13
would render to any other child born alive at 14
the same gestational age; and 15
‘‘(B) following the exercise of skill, care, 16
and diligence required under subparagraph (A), 17
ensure that the child born alive is immediately 18
transported and admitted to a hospital. 19
‘‘(2) M
ANDATORY REPORTING OF VIOLA -20
TIONS.—A health care practitioner or any employee 21
of a hospital, a physician’s office, or an abortion 22
clinic who has knowledge of a failure to comply with 23
the requirements of paragraph (1) shall immediately 24
report the failure to an appropriate State or Federal 25
law enforcement agency, or to both. 26
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‘‘(b) PENALTIES.— 1
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Whoever violates subsection 2
(a) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not 3
more than 5 years, or both. 4
‘‘(2) I
NTENTIONAL KILLING OF CHILD BORN 5
ALIVE.—Whoever intentionally performs or attempts 6
to perform an overt act that kills a child born alive 7
described under subsection (a), shall be punished as 8
under section 1111 of this title for intentionally kill-9
ing or attempting to kill a human being. 10
‘‘(c) B
AR TOPROSECUTION.—The mother of a child 11
born alive described under subsection (a) may not be pros-12
ecuted for a violation of this section, an attempt to violate 13
this section, a conspiracy to violate this section, or an of-14
fense under section 3 or 4 of this title based on such a 15
violation. 16
‘‘(d) C
IVILREMEDIES.— 17
‘‘(1) C
IVIL ACTION BY A WOMAN ON WHOM AN 18
ABORTION IS PERFORMED .—If a child is born alive 19
and there is a violation of subsection (a), the woman 20
upon whom the abortion was performed or at-21
tempted may, in a civil action against any person 22
who committed the violation, obtain appropriate re-23
lief. 24
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‘‘(2) APPROPRIATE RELIEF.—Appropriate relief 1
in a civil action under this subsection includes— 2
‘‘(A) objectively verifiable money damage 3
for all injuries, psychological and physical, occa-4
sioned by the violation of subsection (a); 5
‘‘(B) statutory damages equal to 3 times 6
the cost of the abortion or attempted abortion; 7
and 8
‘‘(C) punitive damages. 9
‘‘(3) A
TTORNEY’S FEE FOR PLAINTIFF .—The 10
court shall award a reasonable attorney’s fee to a 11
prevailing plaintiff in a civil action under this sub-12
section. 13
‘‘(4) A
TTORNEY’S FEE FOR DEFENDANT .—If a 14
defendant in a civil action under this subsection pre-15
vails and the court finds that the plaintiff’s suit was 16
frivolous, the court shall award a reasonable attor-17
ney’s fee in favor of the defendant against the plain-18
tiff. 19
‘‘(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section the following 20
definitions apply: 21
‘‘(1) A
BORTION.—The term ‘abortion’ means 22
the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, 23
drug, or any other substance or device— 24
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‘‘(A) to intentionally kill the unborn child 1
of a woman known to be pregnant; or 2
‘‘(B) to intentionally terminate the preg-3
nancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with 4
an intention other than— 5
‘‘(i) after viability, to produce a live 6
birth and preserve the life and health of 7
the child born alive; or 8
‘‘(ii) to remove a dead unborn child. 9
‘‘(2) A
TTEMPT.—The term ‘attempt’, with re-10
spect to an abortion, means conduct that, under the 11
circumstances as the actor believes them to be, con-12
stitutes a substantial step in a course of conduct 13
planned to culminate in performing an abortion. 14
‘‘(3) B
ORN ALIVE.—The term ‘born alive’ has 15
the meaning given that term in section 8 of title 1, 16
United States Code (commonly known as the ‘Born- 17
Alive Infants Protection Act’).’’. 18
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 19
(1) The table of sections for chapter 74 of title 20
18, United States Code, is amended by adding at 21
the end the following: 22
‘‘1532. Requirements pertaining to born-alive abortion survivors.’’.
(2) The chapter heading for chapter 74 of title 23
18, United States Code, is amended by striking 24
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‘‘PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTIONS ’’ and insert-1
ing ‘‘ABORTIONS ’’. 2
(3) The table of chapters for part I of title 18, 3
United States Code, is amended by striking the item 4
relating to chapter 74 and inserting the following: 5
‘‘74. Abortion.......................................................................................1531’’.
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.
6
This Act shall take effect one day after the date of 7
enactment. 8
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4
119
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
S. 6 A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit
a health care practitioner from failing to exercise
the proper degree of care in the case of a child
who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.
J
ANUARY
16, 2025
Read the second time and placed on the calendar
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