Dismemberment Abortion Ban Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1035 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit dismemberment abortions, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 4, 2019 Mr. ROUNDS (for himself, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. HAWLEY, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mr. RISCH, Mr. DAINES, Mrs. BLACK- BURN, Ms. ERNST, Mr. ENZI, Mr. THUNE, Mr. MORAN, and Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina) 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 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 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION BAN. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 74 of title 18, United 7 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1531 8 the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:41 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1035.IS S1035 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1035 IS ‘‘§ 1532. Dismemberment abortion ban 1 ‘‘(a) DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION PROHIBITED.— 2 ‘‘(1) OFFENSE.—Any physician who, in or af- 3 fecting interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly 4 performs a dismemberment abortion and thereby 5 kills an unborn child shall be fined under this title, 6 imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both. 7 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 8 apply to a dismemberment abortion that is necessary 9 to save the life of a mother whose life is endangered 10 by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical 11 injury, including a life-endangering physical condi- 12 tion caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself. 13 ‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 14 tion shall be construed to limit abortions performed for 15 any reason, including when the pregnancy is a result of 16 rape or incest, if performed by a method other than dis- 17 memberment abortion. 18 ‘‘(c) CIVIL REMEDIES.— 19 ‘‘(1) CIVIL ACTION BY A WOMAN ON WHOM AN 20 ABORTION IS PERFORMED.—A woman upon whom 21 an abortion has been performed in violation of any 22 provision of this section may, in a civil action 23 against any person who committed the violation, ob- 24 tain appropriate relief. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:41 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1035.IS S1035 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1035 IS ‘‘(2) CIVIL ACTION BY A PARENT OF A MINOR 1 ON WHOM AN ABORTION IS PERFORMED.—A parent 2 of a minor upon whom an abortion has been per- 3 formed in violation of any provision of this section 4 may, in a civil action against any person who com- 5 mitted the violation, obtain appropriate relief, unless 6 the pregnancy resulted from the plaintiff’s criminal 7 conduct. 8 ‘‘(3) APPROPRIATE RELIEF.—Appropriate relief 9 in a civil action under this subsection includes— 10 ‘‘(A) objectively verifiable money damages 11 for all injuries, psychological and physical, occa- 12 sioned by the violation; 13 ‘‘(B) statutory damages equal to 3 times 14 the cost of the abortion; and 15 ‘‘(C) punitive damages. 16 ‘‘(4) ATTORNEY’S FEES FOR PLAINTIFF.—The 17 court shall award a reasonable attorney’s fee as part 18 of the costs to a prevailing plaintiff in a civil action 19 under this subsection. 20 ‘‘(5) ATTORNEY’S FEES FOR DEFENDANT.—If a 21 defendant in a civil action under this subsection pre- 22 vails and the court finds that the plaintiff’s suit was 23 frivolous, the court shall award a reasonable attor- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:41 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1035.IS S1035 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1035 IS ney’s fee in favor of the defendant against the plain- 1 tiff. 2 ‘‘(6) AWARDS AGAINST WOMAN.—Except as 3 provided in paragraph (5), in a civil action under 4 this subsection, no damages, attorney’s fee, or other 5 monetary relief may be assessed against the woman 6 upon whom the abortion was performed or at- 7 tempted. 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 01:41 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1035.IS S1035 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1035 IS ‘‘(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; and 16 ‘‘(B) does not include an abortion that 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 01:41 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1035.IS S1035 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1035 IS ‘‘(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. Any individual who is not a phy- 8 sician or not otherwise legally authorized by the 9 State to perform abortions, but who nevertheless di- 10 rectly performs an abortion prohibited in this section 11 shall be subject to the provisions of this section. 12 ‘‘(5) UNBORN CHILD.—The term ‘unborn child’ 13 means an individual organism of the species homo 14 sapiens, beginning at fertilization, until the point of 15 being born alive as defined in section 8(b) of title 16 1.’’. 17 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 18 for chapter 74 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 19 by adding at the end the following: 20 ‘‘1532. Dismemberment abortion ban.’’. (c) CHAPTER HEADING AMENDMENTS.— 21 (1) CHAPTER HEADING IN CHAPTER.—The 22 chapter heading for chapter 74 of title 18, United 23 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘PARTIAL- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:41 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1035.IS S1035 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1035 IS BIRTH ABORTIONS’’ and inserting ‘‘ABOR- 1 TIONS’’. 2 (2) TABLE OF CHAPTERS FOR PART I.—The 3 item relating to chapter 74 in the table of chapters 4 at the beginning of part I of title 18, United States 5 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘Partial-birth 6 abortions’’ and inserting ‘‘Abortions’’. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:41 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1035.IS S1035 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS