PRENDA Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2373 To prohibit discrimination against the unborn on the basis of sex, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 25, 2019 Mrs. WAGNER (for herself, Mrs. HARTZLER, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. BABIN, Mr. BRADY, Mr. LUETKEMEYER, Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia, Mr. HICE of Georgia, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. GIBBS, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. BYRNE, Mr. HUIZENGA, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. KELLY of Mis- sissippi, Mr. FLORES, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. OLSON, Mr. BANKS, Mr. SMITH of Missouri, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. ROUZER, Mr. HUDSON, Mr. WAT- KINS, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. WRIGHT, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana, Mr. WALBERG, Mr. COLE, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. ESTES, Mr. STEWART, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. LATTA, Mr. JORDAN, Mr. WEBSTER of Florida, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr. LOUDERMILK, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. DUFFY, Mr. PALAZZO, Mrs. LESKO, Mr. BROOKS of Alabama, and Mr. MEADOWS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on the Judiciary A BILL To prohibit discrimination against the unborn on the basis of sex, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:11 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2373.IH H2373 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2373 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prenatal Non- 2 discrimination Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘PRENDA Act of 3 2019’’. 4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY. 5 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following 6 findings: 7 (1) Women and girls possess the same funda- 8 mental human rights and civil rights as men and are 9 essential to the formation of stable, peaceful soci- 10 eties. 11 (2) Approximately 126,000,000 women and 12 girls are missing from the world population due to 13 systematic violence against women and girls, par- 14 ticularly sex-selection abortions, according to the 15 United Nations Population Fund. 16 (3) United States law prohibits the dissimilar 17 treatment of males and females who are similarly 18 situated and prohibits sex discrimination in various 19 contexts, including the provision of employment, 20 education, housing, health insurance coverage, and 21 athletics. 22 (4) A ‘‘sex-selection abortion’’ is an abortion 23 undertaken for purposes of eliminating an unborn 24 child of an undesired sex. Sex-selection abortion is 25 described by scholars and civil rights advocates as 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:11 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2373.IH H2373 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2373 IH an act of sex-based or gender-based violence, predi- 1 cated on sex discrimination. By definition, sex-selec- 2 tion abortions do not implicate the health of the 3 mother of the unborn, but instead are elective proce- 4 dures motivated by sex or gender bias. 5 (5) The targeted victims of sex-selection abor- 6 tions performed in the United States and worldwide 7 are overwhelmingly female. 8 (6) Sex-selection abortions are not expressly 9 prohibited by United States law, and only 7 States 10 ban abortions for reason of sex selection at some 11 point in pregnancy. Sex is an immutable char- 12 acteristic ascertainable at the earliest stages of 13 human development through existing medical tech- 14 nology and procedures commonly in use, including 15 maternal-fetal bloodstream DNA sampling, amnio- 16 centesis, chorionic villus sampling or ‘‘CVS’’, and 17 obstetric ultrasound. 18 (7) Sex-selection abortions have the effect of di- 19 minishing the representation of women in the Amer- 20 ican population, and therefore, the American elec- 21 torate. 22 (8) Sex-selection abortions reinforce sex dis- 23 crimination and have no place in a civilized society. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:11 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2373.IH H2373 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2373 IH (9) The history of the United States includes 1 many examples of sex discrimination. The people of 2 the United States ultimately responded in the 3 strongest possible legal terms by enacting a constitu- 4 tional amendment correcting an element of this dis- 5 crimination. Women, once subjected to sex discrimi- 6 nation that denied them the right to vote, now have 7 suffrage guaranteed by the 19th Amendment. The 8 elimination of discriminatory practices has been and 9 is among the highest priorities and greatest achieve- 10 ments of American history. 11 (10) Implicitly approving the discriminatory 12 practices of sex-selection abortion by choosing not to 13 prohibit them will reinforce sex discrimination, and 14 coarsen society to the value of females. Thus, Con- 15 gress has a compelling interest in acting—indeed it 16 must act—to prohibit sex-selection abortion. 17 (b) CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY.—In accordance 18 with the above findings, Congress enacts the following 19 pursuant to Congress’ power under— 20 (1) the Commerce Clause; 21 (2) section 5 of the 14th Amendment, including 22 the power to enforce the prohibition on government 23 action denying equal protection of the laws; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:11 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2373.IH H2373 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2373 IH (3) section 8 of article I to make all laws nec- 1 essary and proper for the carrying into execution of 2 powers vested by the Constitution in the Govern- 3 ment of the United States. 4 SEC. 3. DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE UNBORN ON THE 5 BASIS OF SEX. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 13 of title 18, United 7 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 8 lowing: 9 ‘‘§ 250. Discrimination against the unborn on the 10 basis of sex 11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever knowingly— 12 ‘‘(1) performs an abortion knowing that such 13 abortion is sought based on the sex or gender of the 14 child; 15 ‘‘(2) uses force or the threat of force to inten- 16 tionally injure or intimidate any person for the pur- 17 pose of coercing a sex-selection abortion; 18 ‘‘(3) solicits or accepts funds for the perform- 19 ance of a sex-selection abortion; or 20 ‘‘(4) transports a woman into the United States 21 or across a State line for the purpose of obtaining 22 a sex-selection abortion, 23 or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or im- 24 prisoned not more than 5 years, or both. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:11 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2373.IH H2373 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2373 IH ‘‘(b) CIVIL REMEDIES.— 1 ‘‘(1) CIVIL ACTION BY WOMAN ON WHOM ABOR- 2 TION IS PERFORMED.—A woman upon whom an 3 abortion has been performed or attempted in viola- 4 tion of subsection (a)(2) may in a civil action 5 against any person who engaged in a violation of 6 subsection (a) obtain appropriate relief. 7 ‘‘(2) CIVIL ACTION BY RELATIVES.—The father 8 of an unborn child who is the subject of an abortion 9 performed or attempted in violation of subsection 10 (a), or a maternal grandparent of the unborn child 11 if the pregnant woman is an unemancipated minor, 12 may in a civil action against any person who en- 13 gaged in the violation, obtain appropriate relief, un- 14 less the pregnancy or abortion resulted from the 15 plaintiff’s criminal conduct or the plaintiff consented 16 to the abortion. 17 ‘‘(3) APPROPRIATE RELIEF.—Appropriate relief 18 in a civil action under this subsection includes— 19 ‘‘(A) objectively verifiable money damages 20 for all injuries, psychological and physical, in- 21 cluding loss of companionship and support, oc- 22 casioned by the violation of this section; and 23 ‘‘(B) punitive damages. 24 ‘‘(4) INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:11 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2373.IH H2373 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2373 IH ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A qualified plaintiff 1 may in a civil action obtain injunctive relief to 2 prevent an abortion provider from performing 3 or attempting further abortions in violation of 4 this section. 5 ‘‘(B) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph the 6 term ‘qualified plaintiff’ means— 7 ‘‘(i) a woman upon whom an abortion 8 is performed or attempted in violation of 9 this section; 10 ‘‘(ii) a maternal grandparent of the 11 unborn child if the woman upon whom an 12 abortion is performed or attempted in vio- 13 lation of this section is an unemancipated 14 minor; 15 ‘‘(iii) the father of an unborn child 16 who is the subject of an abortion per- 17 formed or attempted in violation of sub- 18 section (a); or 19 ‘‘(iv) the Attorney General. 20 ‘‘(5) ATTORNEYS FEES FOR PLAINTIFF.—The 21 court shall award a reasonable attorney’s fee as part 22 of the costs to a prevailing plaintiff in a civil action 23 under this subsection. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2373.IH H2373 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2373 IH ‘‘(c) BAR TO PROSECUTION.—A woman upon whom 1 a sex-selection abortion is performed may not be pros- 2 ecuted or held civilly liable for any violation of this section, 3 or for a conspiracy to violate under this section, for a con- 4 spiracy to violate this section, or for an offense under sec- 5 tion 2, 3, or 4 of this title based on a violation of this 6 section. 7 ‘‘(d) LOSS OF FEDERAL FUNDING.—A violation of 8 subsection (a) shall be deemed for the purposes of title 9 VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to be discrimination 10 prohibited by section 601 of that Act. 11 ‘‘(e) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—A physician, phy- 12 sician’s assistant, nurse, counselor, or other medical or 13 mental health professional shall report known or suspected 14 violations of any of this section to appropriate Federal, 15 State, and local law enforcement authorities. Whoever vio- 16 lates this requirement shall be fined under this title or 17 imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both. 18 ‘‘(f) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION.—It shall be the 19 duty of the United States district courts, United States 20 courts of appeal, and the Supreme Court of the United 21 States to advance on the docket and to expedite to the 22 greatest possible extent the disposition of any matter 23 brought under this section. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2373.IH H2373 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2373 IH ‘‘(g) PROTECTION OF PRIVACY IN COURT PRO- 1 CEEDINGS.— 2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except to the extent the 3 Constitution or other similarly compelling reason re- 4 quires, in every civil or criminal action under this 5 section, the court shall make such orders as are nec- 6 essary to protect the anonymity of any woman upon 7 whom an abortion has been performed or attempted 8 if she does not give her written consent to such dis- 9 closure. Such orders may be made upon motion, but 10 shall be made sua sponte if not otherwise sought by 11 a party. 12 ‘‘(2) ORDERS TO PARTIES, WITNESSES, AND 13 COUNSEL.—The court shall issue appropriate orders 14 to the parties, witnesses, and counsel and shall di- 15 rect the sealing of the record and exclusion of indi- 16 viduals from courtrooms or hearing rooms to the ex- 17 tent necessary to safeguard the identity of the 18 woman described in paragraph (1) from public dis- 19 closure. 20 ‘‘(3) PSEUDONYM REQUIRED.—In the absence 21 of written consent of the woman upon whom an 22 abortion has been performed or attempted, any 23 party, other than a public official, who brings an ac- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2373.IH H2373 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2373 IH tion under this section shall do so under a pseu- 1 donym. 2 ‘‘(4) LIMITATION.—This subsection shall not be 3 construed to conceal the identity of the plaintiff or 4 of witnesses from the defendant or from attorneys 5 for the defendant. 6 ‘‘(h) DEFINITION.—In this section— 7 ‘‘(1) the term ‘abortion’ means the act of using 8 or prescribing any instrument, medicine, drug, or 9 any other substance, device, or means with the in- 10 tent to— 11 ‘‘(A) kill the unborn child of a woman 12 known to be pregnant; or 13 ‘‘(B) terminate the pregnancy of a woman 14 known to be pregnant, with an intention other 15 than— 16 ‘‘(i) after viability to produce a live 17 birth and preserve the life and health of 18 the child born alive; or 19 ‘‘(ii) to remove a dead unborn child; 20 and 21 ‘‘(2) the term ‘sex-selection abortion’ means an 22 abortion undertaken for purposes of eliminating an 23 unborn child of an undesired sex.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2373.IH H2373 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 2373 IH (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 1 at the beginning of chapter 13 of title 18, United States 2 Code, is amended by adding after the item relating to sec- 3 tion 249 the following new item: 4 ‘‘250. Discrimination against the unborn on the basis of sex.’’. SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY. 5 If any portion of this Act or the application thereof 6 to any person or circumstance is held invalid, such inva- 7 lidity shall not affect the portions or applications of this 8 Act which can be given effect without the invalid portion 9 or application. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2373.IH H2373 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS