103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 796

AN ACT

To amend title 18, United States Code, to assure

freedom of access to reproductive services.
103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 796

AN ACT

To amend title 18, United States Code, to assure freedom

of access to reproductive services.

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

3 SECTION l. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Freedom of Access

5 to Clinic Entrances Act of 1993’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FREEDOM OF ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

2 SERVICES.

3 Chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code, is

4 amended by adding at the end the following:

5 ‘‘§ 248. Blocking access to reproductive health

6 services

7 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES.—Whoever—

8 ‘‘(1) by force, threat of force, or physical ob9 struction, intentionally injures, intimidates, or inter10 feres with any person, or attempts to do so, because

11 that person or any other person or class of persons

12 is obtaining or providing reproductive health

13 services; or

14 ‘‘(2) intentionally damages or destroys the

15 property of a facility, or attempts to do so, because

16 that facility provides reproductive health services;

17 shall be punished as provided in subsection (b) of this sec18 tion and also be subject to the civil remedy provided in

19 subsection (c) of this section, except that a parent or legal

20 guardian of a minor shall not be subject to any penalties

21 or civil remedies under this section for such activities inso22 far as they are directed exclusively at that minor.

23 ‘‘(b) PENALTIES.—Whoever violates subsection (a) of

24 this section shall—
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1 ‘‘(1) in the case of a first offense, be fined

2 under this title or imprisoned not more than 1 year,

3 or both; and

4 ‘‘(2) in the case of a second or subsequent of5 fense after a prior conviction under this section, be

6 fined under this title or imprisoned not more than

7 3 years, or both;

8 except that, if bodily injury results, the length of imprison9 ment shall be not more than 10 years, and if death results,

10 it shall be for any term of years or for life.

11 ‘‘(c) CIVIL ACTIONS.—

12 ‘‘(1) RIGHT OF ACTION GENERALLY.—Any per13 son who is aggrieved by a violation of subsection (a)

14 of this section may in a civil action obtain relief

15 under this subsection.

16 ‘‘(2) ACTION BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.—If the

17 Attorney General has reasonable cause to believe

18 that any person, or group of persons, is aggrieved by

19 a violation of subsection (a) of this section, the At20 torney General may in a civil action obtain relief

21 under this subsection.

22 ‘‘(3) ACTIONS BY STATE ATTORNEYS GEN23 ERAL.—If an attorney general of a State has reason24 able cause to believe that any person or group of

25 persons is aggrieved by a violation of subsection (a)
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1 of this section, that attorney general may in a civil

2 action obtain relief under this subsection.

3 ‘‘(4) RELIEF.—In any action under this sub4 section, the court may award any appropriate relief,

5 including temporary, preliminary or permanent in6 junctive relief, and compensatory and punitive dam7 ages for each person aggrieved by the violation. With

8 respect to compensatory damages, the aggrieved per9 son may elect, at any time before the rendering of

10 final judgment, to recover, in lieu of actual damages,

11 an award of statutory damages in the amount of

12 $5,000 per violation. The court may award to the

13 prevailing party, other than the United States, rea14 sonable fees for attorneys and expert witnesses.

15 ‘‘(d) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—(1) Nothing in this

16 section shall be construed to prohibit any expressive con17 duct (including peaceful picketing or other peaceful dem18 onstration) protected from legal prohibition by the first

19 article of amendment to the Constitution.

20 ‘‘(2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to

21 interfere with the authority of States to enforce State or

22 local laws regulating the provision of reproductive health

23 services.

24 ‘‘(e) NON-PREEMPTION.—Congress does not intend

25 this section to provide the exclusive remedies with respect
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1 to the conduct prohibited by it, nor to preempt the legisla2 tion of the States that may provide such remedies.

3 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the fol4 lowing definitions apply:

5 ‘‘(1) REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES.—The

6 term ‘reproductive health services’ means reproduc7 tive health services provided in a hospital, clinic,

8 physician’s office, or other facility, and includes

9 medical, surgical, counselling or referral services re10 lating to the human reproductive system.

11 ‘‘(2) FACILITY.—The term ‘facility’ includes the

12 building or structure in which the facility is located.

13 ‘‘(3) PHYSICAL OBSTRUCTION.—The term

14 ‘physical obstruction’ means rendering impassable

15 ingress to or egress from a facility that provides re16 productive health services, or rendering passage to

17 or from such facility unreasonably difficult.

18 ‘‘(4) STATE.—The term ‘State’ includes a State

19 of the United States, the District of Columbia, and

20 any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the

21 United States.

22 ‘‘(5) INTIMIDATE.—The term ‘intimidate’

23 means to place a person in reasonable apprehension

24 of bodily harm to himself or herself or to another.’’.
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1 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

2 This Act takes effect on the date of the enactment

3 of this Act, and shall apply only with respect to conduct

4 occurring on or after such date.

5 SEC. 4. CLERICAL AMENDMENT.

6 The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 13

7 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at

8 the end the following new item:

‘‘248. Blocking access to reproductive health services.’’.

Passed the House of Representatives November 18,

1993.

Attest:

Clerk.