II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 446 

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. 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Informed Consent 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ABORTION AND STERILIZATION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 7 of title 18, United 

3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘§ 120. Abortion and sterilization without informed 

6 consent 

7 ‘‘(a) OFFENSE.—Whoever, under the circumstances 

8 described in subsection (b), knowingly performs an abor9 tion or a sterilization procedure on a person without the 

10 informed consent of such person shall be fined under this 

11 title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both. 

12 ‘‘(b) CIRCUMSTANCES DESCRIBED.—For purposes of 

13 subsection (a), the circumstances described in this sub14 section are that— 

15 ‘‘(1) the defendant is an officer, employee, or 

16 contractor of the Federal Government; 

17 ‘‘(2) the defendant is a recipient of Federal 

18 funds from the Secretary of Health and Human 

19 Services or a program administered by the Secretary 

20 of Health and Human Services; or 

21 ‘‘(3) the conduct described in subsection (a) oc22 curred in or affected interstate commerce. 

23 ‘‘(c) EXCEPTIONS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) does not 

25 apply— 


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1 ‘‘(A) in the case that a woman suffers 

2 from a physical disorder, physical injury, or 

3 physical illness that would, as certified by a 

4 physician, place the woman in danger of death 

5 unless an abortion is performed, including a 

6 life-endangering physical condition caused by or 

7 arising from the pregnancy itself and not in8 cluding psychological or emotional conditions; 

9 or 

10 ‘‘(B) if, in reasonable medical judgement, 

11 a sterilization procedure is necessary to— 

12 ‘‘(i) save the life of an individual 

13 whose life is endangered by a physical dis14 order, physical illness, or physical injury, 

15 including a life-endangering physical condi16 tion caused by or arising from the repro17 ductive organs of the individual and not in18 cluding psychological or emotional condi19 tions; or 

20 ‘‘(ii) prevent serious risk of substan21 tial and irreversible impairment of a major 

22 bodily function created by a delay. 

23 ‘‘(2) WITHHOLDING OF CONSENT.—Paragraph 

24 (1) shall not apply if the individual on whom an 

25 abortion or sterilization procedure is performed has 


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1 explicitly refused to consent to the abortion or steri2 lization procedure. 

3 ‘‘(d) CONDUCT OF INDIVIDUALS WITH KNOWLEDGE

4 OF VIOLATIONS.—Whoever, being an officer, employee, or 

5 contractor of the Federal Government or an employee or 

6 contractor of a recipient of Federal funds from the Sec7 retary of Health and Human Services or a program ad8 ministered by the Secretary of Health and Human Serv9 ices, has knowledge of a failure to comply with subsection 

10 (a) and does not, as soon as possible, make known the 

11 same to a Federal or State law enforcement agency, shall 

12 be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three 

13 years, or both. 

14 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) ABORTION.—The term ‘abortion’ means 

16 the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, 

17 drug, or any other substance or device— 

18 ‘‘(A) to intentionally kill the unborn child 

19 of a woman known to be pregnant; or 

20 ‘‘(B) to intentionally terminate the preg21 nancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with 

22 an intention other than— 

23 ‘‘(i) after viability to produce a live 

24 birth and preserve the life and health of 

25 the child born alive; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) to remove a dead unborn child. 

2 ‘‘(2) REASONABLE MEDICAL JUDGMENT.—The 

3 term ‘reasonable medical judgment’ means a medical 

4 judgment that would be made by a reasonably pru5 dent physician, knowledgeable about the case and 

6 the treatment possibilities with respect to the med7 ical conditions involved. 

8 ‘‘(3) STERILIZATION PROCEDURE.—The term 

9 ‘sterilization procedure’ means any medical proce10 dure, treatment, or operation for the purpose of ren11 dering an individual permanently incapable of repro12 ducing.’’. 

13 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

14 for chapter 7 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 

15 by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘120. Abortion and sterilization without informed consent.’’. 

Æ 


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