II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 928

To amend title 18, United States Code, to ban partial-birth abortions.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 29, 1999

Mr. SANTORUM (for himself, Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire, Mr. LOTT, Mr.

ABRAHAM, Mr. ALLARD, Mr. ASHCROFT, Mr. BOND, Mr. BROWNBACK,

Mr. BUNNING, Mr. BURNS, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. CRAIG, Mr. CRAPO, Mr.

DEWINE, Mr. DOMENICI, Mr. ENZI, Mr. FITZGERALD, Mr. FRIST, Mr.

GORTON, Mr. GRAMM, Mr. GRAMS, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. HAGEL, Mr.

HATCH, Mr. HELMS, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. KYL, Mr.

LUGAR, Mr. MACK, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. MURKOWSKI,

Mr. NICKLES, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. SHELBY, Mr. SMITH of

Oregon, Mr. THOMAS, Mr. THURMOND, Mr. VOINOVICH, and Mr. WARNER) 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 ban partialbirth abortions.

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 ‘‘Partial-Birth Abortion

5 Ban Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTIONS.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title 18, United States Code, is

3 amended by inserting after chapter 73 the following:

4 ‘‘CHAPTER 74—PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTIONS

‘‘Sec.

‘‘1531. Partial-birth abortions prohibited.

5 ‘‘§ 1531. Partial-birth abortions prohibited

6 ‘‘(a) Any physician who, in or affecting interstate or

7 foreign commerce, knowingly performs a partial-birth

8 abortion and thereby kills a human fetus shall be fined

9 under this title or imprisoned not more than two years,

10 or both. This paragraph shall not apply to a partial-birth

11 abortion that is necessary to save the life of a mother

12 whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, illness,

13 or injury. This paragraph shall become effective one day

14 after enactment.

15 ‘‘(b)(1) As used in this section, the term ‘partial-birth

16 abortion’ means an abortion in which the person per17 forming the abortion partially vaginally delivers a living

18 fetus before killing the fetus and completing the delivery.

19 ‘‘(2) As used in this section, the term ‘physician’

20 means a doctor of medicine or osteopathy legally author21 ized to practice medicine and surgery by the State in

22 which the doctor performs such activity, or any other indi23 vidual legally authorized by the State to perform abor24 tions: Provided, however, That any individual who is not
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1 a physician or not otherwise legally authorized by the

2 State to perform abortions, but who nevertheless directly

3 performs a partial-birth abortion, shall be subject to the

4 provisions of this section.

5 ‘‘(3) As used in this section, the term ‘vaginally deliv6 ers a living fetus before killing the fetus’ means delib7 erately and intentionally delivers into the vagina a living

8 fetus, or a substantial portion thereof, for the purpose of

9 performing a procedure the physician knows will kill the

10 fetus, and kills the fetus.

11 ‘‘(c)(1) The father, if married to the mother at the

12 time she receives a partial-birth abortion procedure, and

13 if the mother has not attained the age of 18 years at the

14 time of the abortion, the maternal grandparents of the

15 fetus, may in a civil action obtain appropriate relief, unless

16 the pregnancy resulted from the plaintiff’s criminal con17 duct or the plaintiff consented to the abortion.

18 ‘‘(2) Such relief shall include—

19 ‘‘(A) money damages for all injuries, psycho20 logical and physical, occasioned by the violation of

21 this section; and

22 ‘‘(B) statutory damages equal to three times

23 the cost of the partial-birth abortion.

24 ‘‘(d)(1) A defendant accused of an offense under this

25 section may seek a hearing before the State Medical Board
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1 on whether the physician’s conduct was necessary to save

2 the life of the mother whose life was endangered by a

3 physical disorder, illness or injury.

4 ‘‘(2) The findings on that issue are admissible on that

5 issue at the trial of the defendant. Upon a motion of the

6 defendant, the court shall delay the beginning of the trial

7 for not more than 30 days to permit such a hearing to

8 take place.

9 ‘‘(e) A woman upon whom a partial-birth abortion is

10 performed may not be prosecuted under this section, for

11 a conspiracy to violate this section, or for an offense under

12 section 2, 3, or 4 of this title based on a violation of this

13 section.’’.

14 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of chapters

15 for part I of title 18, United States Code, is amended by

16 inserting after the item relating to chapter 73 the fol17 lowing new item:

‘‘74. Partial-birth abortions ........................................................... 1531’’.

Æ