I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 862 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit dismemberment abortions, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 7, 2023 

Mrs. LESKO (for herself, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, 

Mrs. MILLER of Illinois, Mrs. LUNA, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. BANKS, Mr. 

MORAN, Mr. RESCHENTHALER, Mr. BABIN, Mrs. MILLER of West Virginia, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. TIMMONS, Mr. CLINE, and Mr. 

GRAVES of Louisiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit 

dismemberment abortions, 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 ‘‘Dismemberment Abor5 tion Ban Act of 2023’’. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
2 

•HR 862 IH

1 SEC. 2. DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION BAN. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 74 of title 18, United 

3 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1531 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘§ 1532. Dismemberment abortion ban 

6 ‘‘(a) DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION PROHIBITED.— 

7 Any physician who, in or affecting interstate or foreign 

8 commerce, knowingly performs a dismemberment abortion 

9 and thereby kills an unborn child shall be fined under this 

10 title or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both. This 

11 subsection does not apply to a dismemberment abortion 

12 that is necessary to save the life of a mother whose life 

13 is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or 

14 physical injury, including a life-endangering physical con15 dition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself. 

16 ‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec17 tion shall be construed to limit abortions performed for 

18 any reason, including when the pregnancy is a result of 

19 rape or incest, if performed by a method other than dis20 memberment abortion. 

21 ‘‘(c) CIVIL REMEDIES.— 

22 ‘‘(1) CIVIL ACTION BY A WOMAN ON WHOM AN

23 ABORTION IS PERFORMED.—A woman upon whom 

24 an abortion has been performed in violation of any 

25 provision of this section may, in a civil action 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
3 

•HR 862 IH

1 against any person who committed the violation, ob2 tain appropriate relief. 

3 ‘‘(2) CIVIL ACTION BY A PARENT OF A MINOR

4 ON WHOM AN ABORTION IS PERFORMED.—A parent 

5 of a minor upon whom an abortion has been per6 formed in violation of any provision of this section 

7 may, in a civil action against any person who com8 mitted the violation obtain appropriate relief, unless 

9 the pregnancy resulted from the plaintiff’s criminal 

10 conduct. 

11 ‘‘(3) APPROPRIATE RELIEF.—Appropriate relief 

12 in a civil action under this subsection includes— 

13 ‘‘(A) objectively verifiable money damages 

14 for all injuries, psychological and physical, occa15 sioned by the violation; 

16 ‘‘(B) statutory damages equal to three 

17 times the cost of the abortion; and 

18 ‘‘(C) punitive damages. 

19 ‘‘(4) ATTORNEYS FEES FOR PLAINTIFF.—The 

20 court shall award a reasonable attorney’s fee as part 

21 of the costs to a prevailing plaintiff in a civil action 

22 under this subsection. 

23 ‘‘(5) ATTORNEYS FEES FOR DEFENDANT.—If a 

24 defendant in a civil action under this subsection pre25 vails and the court finds that the plaintiff’s suit was 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
4 

•HR 862 IH

1 frivolous, the court shall award a reasonable attor2 ney’s fee in favor of the defendant against the plain3 tiff. 

4 ‘‘(6) AWARDS AGAINST WOMAN.—Except under 

5 paragraph (5), in a civil action under this sub6 section, no damages, attorney’s fee or other mone7 tary relief may be assessed against the woman upon 

8 whom the abortion was performed or attempted. 

9 ‘‘(d) IMMUNITY FROM PROSECUTION FOR WOMAN

10 UPON WHOM A DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION IS PER11 FORMED.—A woman upon whom a dismemberment abor12 tion is performed may not be prosecuted under this sec13 tion, for a conspiracy to violate this section, or for an of14 fense under section 2, 3, or 4 of this title based on a viola15 tion of this section. 

16 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

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

18 the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, 

19 drug, or any other substance or device— 

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

21 of a woman known to be pregnant; or 

22 ‘‘(B) to intentionally terminate the preg23 nancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with 

24 an intention other than— 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
5 

•HR 862 IH

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

2 birth and preserve the life and health of 

3 the child born alive; or 

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

5 ‘‘(2) DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION.—The term 

6 ‘dismemberment abortion’— 

7 ‘‘(A) means, with the purpose of causing 

8 the death of an unborn child, knowingly dis9 membering a living unborn child and extracting 

10 such unborn child one piece at a time or intact 

11 but crushed from the uterus through the use of 

12 clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors or 

13 similar instruments that, through the conver14 gence of two rigid levers, slice, crush or grasp 

15 a portion of the unborn child’s body in order to 

16 cut or rip it off or crush it; but 

17 ‘‘(B) does not include an abortion which 

18 uses suction to dismember the body of the un19 born child by sucking fetal parts into a collec20 tion container unless the actions described in 

21 subparagraph (A) are used to cause the death 

22 of an unborn child but suction is subsequently 

23 used to extract fetal parts after the death of the 

24 unborn child. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
6 

•HR 862 IH

1 ‘‘(3) MINOR.—The term ‘minor’ means an indi2 vidual who has not attained the age of 18 years. 

3 ‘‘(4) PHYSICIAN.—The term ‘physician’ means 

4 a doctor of medicine or osteopathy legally authorized 

5 to practice medicine and surgery by the State in 

6 which the doctor performs such activity, or any 

7 other individual legally authorized by the State to 

8 perform abortions: Provided, however, That any indi9 vidual who is not a physician or not otherwise legally 

10 authorized by the State to perform abortions, but 

11 who nevertheless directly performs an abortion pro12 hibited in this section shall be subject to the provi13 sions of this section. 

14 ‘‘(5) UNBORN CHILD.—The term ‘unborn child’ 

15 means an individual organism of the species homo 

16 sapiens, beginning at fertilization, until the point of 

17 being born alive as defined in section 8(b) of title 

18 1.’’. 

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

20 at the beginning of chapter 74 of title 18, United States 

21 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 

22 item: 

‘‘1532. Dismemberment abortion ban.’’. 

23 (c) CHAPTER HEADING AMENDMENTS.— 

24 (1) CHAPTER HEADING IN CHAPTER.—The 

25 chapter heading for chapter 74 of title 18, United 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
7 

•HR 862 IH

1 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘PARTIAL2 BIRTH ABORTIONS’’ and inserting ‘‘ABOR3 TIONS’’. 

4 (2) TABLE OF CHAPTERS FOR PART I.—The 

5 item relating to chapter 74 in the table of chapters 

6 at the beginning of part I of title 18, United States 

7 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘Partial-birth 

8 abortions’’ and inserting ‘‘Abortions’’. 

Æ 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB