Dismemberment Abortion Ban Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 558 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit dismemberment abortions, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 28, 2021 Mrs. LESKO (for herself, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. BUDD, Mr. KELLY of Pennsyl- vania, Mr. MOONEY, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. PALMER, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr. BABIN, Mr. HICE of Georgia, Mr. JOYCE of Pennsyl- vania, Mr. STEWART, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. WRIGHT, Mr. STEUBE, Mr. LATTA, Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana, Mr. JACKSON, Mr. BANKS, and Ms. HERRELL) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit dismemberment abortions, 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 ‘‘Dismemberment Abor- 4 tion Ban Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H558.IH H558 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 558 IH SEC. 2. DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION BAN. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 74 of title 18, United 2 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1531 3 the following: 4 ‘‘§ 1532. Dismemberment abortion ban 5 ‘‘(a) DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION PROHIBITED.— 6 Any physician who, in or affecting interstate or foreign 7 commerce, knowingly performs a dismemberment abortion 8 and thereby kills an unborn child shall be fined under this 9 title or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both. This 10 subsection does not apply to a dismemberment abortion 11 that is necessary to save the life of a mother whose life 12 is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or 13 physical injury, including a life-endangering physical con- 14 dition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself. 15 ‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 16 tion shall be construed to limit abortions performed for 17 any reason, including when the pregnancy is a result of 18 rape or incest, if performed by a method other than dis- 19 memberment abortion. 20 ‘‘(c) CIVIL REMEDIES.— 21 ‘‘(1) CIVIL ACTION BY A WOMAN ON WHOM AN 22 ABORTION IS PERFORMED.—A woman upon whom 23 an abortion has been performed in violation of any 24 provision of this section may, in a civil action 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H558.IH H558 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 558 IH against any person who committed the violation, ob- 1 tain appropriate relief. 2 ‘‘(2) CIVIL ACTION BY A PARENT OF A MINOR 3 ON WHOM AN ABORTION IS PERFORMED.—A parent 4 of a minor upon whom an abortion has been per- 5 formed in violation of any provision of this section 6 may, in a civil action against any person who com- 7 mitted the violation obtain appropriate relief, unless 8 the pregnancy resulted from the plaintiff’s criminal 9 conduct. 10 ‘‘(3) APPROPRIATE RELIEF.—Appropriate relief 11 in a civil action under this subsection includes— 12 ‘‘(A) objectively verifiable money damages 13 for all injuries, psychological and physical, occa- 14 sioned by the violation; 15 ‘‘(B) statutory damages equal to three 16 times the cost of the abortion; and 17 ‘‘(C) punitive damages. 18 ‘‘(4) ATTORNEYS FEES FOR PLAINTIFF.—The 19 court shall award a reasonable attorney’s fee as part 20 of the costs to a prevailing plaintiff in a civil action 21 under this subsection. 22 ‘‘(5) ATTORNEYS FEES FOR DEFENDANT.—If a 23 defendant in a civil action under this subsection pre- 24 vails and the court finds that the plaintiff’s suit was 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H558.IH H558 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 558 IH frivolous, the court shall award a reasonable attor- 1 ney’s fee in favor of the defendant against the plain- 2 tiff. 3 ‘‘(6) AWARDS AGAINST WOMAN.—Except under 4 paragraph (5), in a civil action under this sub- 5 section, no damages, attorney’s fee or other mone- 6 tary relief may be assessed against the woman upon 7 whom the abortion was performed or attempted. 8 ‘‘(d) IMMUNITY FROM PROSECUTION FOR WOMAN 9 UPON WHOM A DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION IS PER- 10 FORMED.—A woman upon whom a dismemberment abor- 11 tion is performed may not be prosecuted under this sec- 12 tion, for a conspiracy to violate this section, or for an of- 13 fense under section 2, 3, or 4 of this title based on a viola- 14 tion of this section. 15 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 16 ‘‘(1) ABORTION.—The term ‘abortion’ means 17 the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, 18 drug, or any other substance or device— 19 ‘‘(A) to intentionally kill the unborn child 20 of a woman known to be pregnant; or 21 ‘‘(B) to intentionally terminate the preg- 22 nancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with 23 an intention other than— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H558.IH H558 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 558 IH ‘‘(i) after viability to produce a live 1 birth and preserve the life and health of 2 the child born alive; or 3 ‘‘(ii) to remove a dead unborn child. 4 ‘‘(2) DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION.—The term 5 ‘dismemberment abortion’— 6 ‘‘(A) means, with the purpose of causing 7 the death of an unborn child, knowingly dis- 8 membering a living unborn child and extracting 9 such unborn child one piece at a time or intact 10 but crushed from the uterus through the use of 11 clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors or 12 similar instruments that, through the conver- 13 gence of two rigid levers, slice, crush or grasp 14 a portion of the unborn child’s body in order to 15 cut or rip it off or crush it; but 16 ‘‘(B) does not include an abortion which 17 uses suction to dismember the body of the un- 18 born child by sucking fetal parts into a collec- 19 tion container unless the actions described in 20 subparagraph (A) are used to cause the death 21 of an unborn child but suction is subsequently 22 used to extract fetal parts after the death of the 23 unborn child. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H558.IH H558 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 558 IH ‘‘(3) MINOR.—The term ‘minor’ means an indi- 1 vidual who has not attained the age of 18 years. 2 ‘‘(4) PHYSICIAN.—The term ‘physician’ means 3 a doctor of medicine or osteopathy legally authorized 4 to practice medicine and surgery by the State in 5 which the doctor performs such activity, or any 6 other individual legally authorized by the State to 7 perform abortions: Provided, however, That any indi- 8 vidual who is not a physician or not otherwise legally 9 authorized by the State to perform abortions, but 10 who nevertheless directly performs an abortion pro- 11 hibited in this section shall be subject to the provi- 12 sions of this section. 13 ‘‘(5) UNBORN CHILD.—The term ‘unborn child’ 14 means an individual organism of the species homo 15 sapiens, beginning at fertilization, until the point of 16 being born alive as defined in section 8(b) of title 17 1.’’. 18 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 19 at the beginning of chapter 74 of title 18, United States 20 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 21 item: 22 ‘‘1532. Dismemberment abortion ban.’’. (c) CHAPTER HEADING AMENDMENTS.— 23 (1) CHAPTER HEADING IN CHAPTER.—The 24 chapter heading for chapter 74 of title 18, United 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H558.IH H558 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 558 IH States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘PARTIAL- 1 BIRTH ABORTIONS’’ and inserting ‘‘ABOR- 2 TIONS’’. 3 (2) TABLE OF CHAPTERS FOR PART I.—The 4 item relating to chapter 74 in the table of chapters 5 at the beginning of part I of title 18, United States 6 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘Partial-birth 7 abortions’’ and inserting ‘‘Abortions’’. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H558.IH H558 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS