II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 446 To amend title 18, United States Code, to criminalize any abortion or steri- lization procedure performed without the informed consent of the person on whom such procedure is performed, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 25, 2021 Ms. ERNST (for herself, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. CRAMER, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, and Mr. MARSHALL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to criminalize any abortion or sterilization procedure performed without the informed consent of the person on whom such procedure is performed, 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 ‘‘Informed Consent 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S446.IS S446 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 446 IS SEC. 2. ABORTION AND STERILIZATION. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 7 of title 18, United 2 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 3 lowing: 4 ‘‘§ 120. Abortion and sterilization without informed 5 consent 6 ‘‘(a) OFFENSE.—Whoever, under the circumstances 7 described in subsection (b), knowingly performs an abor- 8 tion or a sterilization procedure on a person without the 9 informed consent of such person shall be fined under this 10 title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both. 11 ‘‘(b) CIRCUMSTANCES DESCRIBED.—For purposes of 12 subsection (a), the circumstances described in this sub- 13 section are that— 14 ‘‘(1) the defendant is an officer, employee, or 15 contractor of the Federal Government; 16 ‘‘(2) the defendant is a recipient of Federal 17 funds from the Secretary of Health and Human 18 Services or a program administered by the Secretary 19 of Health and Human Services; or 20 ‘‘(3) the conduct described in subsection (a) oc- 21 curred in or affected interstate commerce. 22 ‘‘(c) EXCEPTIONS.— 23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) does not 24 apply— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S446.IS S446 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 446 IS ‘‘(A) in the case that a woman suffers 1 from a physical disorder, physical injury, or 2 physical illness that would, as certified by a 3 physician, place the woman in danger of death 4 unless an abortion is performed, including a 5 life-endangering physical condition caused by or 6 arising from the pregnancy itself and not in- 7 cluding psychological or emotional conditions; 8 or 9 ‘‘(B) if, in reasonable medical judgement, 10 a sterilization procedure is necessary to— 11 ‘‘(i) save the life of an individual 12 whose life is endangered by a physical dis- 13 order, physical illness, or physical injury, 14 including a life-endangering physical condi- 15 tion caused by or arising from the repro- 16 ductive organs of the individual and not in- 17 cluding psychological or emotional condi- 18 tions; or 19 ‘‘(ii) prevent serious risk of substan- 20 tial and irreversible impairment of a major 21 bodily function created by a delay. 22 ‘‘(2) WITHHOLDING OF CONSENT.—Paragraph 23 (1) shall not apply if the individual on whom an 24 abortion or sterilization procedure is performed has 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S446.IS S446 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 446 IS explicitly refused to consent to the abortion or steri- 1 lization procedure. 2 ‘‘(d) CONDUCT OF INDIVIDUALS WITH KNOWLEDGE 3 OF VIOLATIONS.—Whoever, being an officer, employee, or 4 contractor of the Federal Government or an employee or 5 contractor of a recipient of Federal funds from the Sec- 6 retary of Health and Human Services or a program ad- 7 ministered by the Secretary of Health and Human Serv- 8 ices, has knowledge of a failure to comply with subsection 9 (a) and does not, as soon as possible, make known the 10 same to a Federal or State law enforcement agency, shall 11 be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three 12 years, or both. 13 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.— 14 ‘‘(1) ABORTION.—The term ‘abortion’ means 15 the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, 16 drug, or any other substance or device— 17 ‘‘(A) to intentionally kill the unborn child 18 of a woman known to be pregnant; or 19 ‘‘(B) to intentionally terminate the preg- 20 nancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with 21 an intention other than— 22 ‘‘(i) after viability to produce a live 23 birth and preserve the life and health of 24 the child born alive; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S446.IS S446 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 446 IS ‘‘(ii) to remove a dead unborn child. 1 ‘‘(2) REASONABLE MEDICAL JUDGMENT.—The 2 term ‘reasonable medical judgment’ means a medical 3 judgment that would be made by a reasonably pru- 4 dent physician, knowledgeable about the case and 5 the treatment possibilities with respect to the med- 6 ical conditions involved. 7 ‘‘(3) STERILIZATION PROCEDURE.—The term 8 ‘sterilization procedure’ means any medical proce- 9 dure, treatment, or operation for the purpose of ren- 10 dering an individual permanently incapable of repro- 11 ducing.’’. 12 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 13 for chapter 7 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 14 by adding at the end the following: 15 ‘‘120. Abortion and sterilization without informed consent.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S446.IS S446 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS