I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 956 

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

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 4, 2019 

Mrs. LESKO (for herself, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. BIGGS, 

Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia, Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana, Mr. WEBER

of Texas, Mrs. HARTZLER, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. LOUDERMILK, Mr. 

GROTHMAN, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. SPANO, Mr. LAMBORN, 

Mr. GIBBS, Mr. CHABOT, and Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania) 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 ‘‘Saving Children Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION BAN. 

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

7 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1531 

8 the following: 


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1 ‘‘§ 1532. Dismemberment abortion ban 

2 ‘‘(a) DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION PROHIBITED.— 

3 Any physician who, in or affecting interstate or foreign 

4 commerce, knowingly performs a dismemberment abortion 

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

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

7 subsection does not apply to a dismemberment abortion 

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

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

10 physical injury, including a life-endangering physical con11 dition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself. 

12 ‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec13 tion shall be construed to limit abortions performed for 

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

15 rape or incest, if performed by a method other than dis16 memberment abortion. 

17 ‘‘(c) CIVIL REMEDIES.— 

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

19 ABORTION IS PERFORMED.—A woman upon whom 

20 an abortion has been performed in violation of any 

21 provision of this section may, in a civil action 

22 against any person who committed the violation, ob23 tain appropriate relief. 

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

25 ON WHOM AN ABORTION IS PERFORMED.—A parent 

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1 formed in violation of any provision of this section 

2 may, in a civil action against any person who com3 mitted the violation obtain appropriate relief, unless 

4 the pregnancy resulted from the plaintiff’s criminal 

5 conduct. 

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

7 in a civil action under this subsection includes— 

8 ‘‘(A) objectively verifiable money damages 

9 for all injuries, psychological and physical, occa10 sioned by the violation; 

11 ‘‘(B) statutory damages equal to three 

12 times the cost of the abortion; and 

13 ‘‘(C) punitive damages. 

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

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

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

17 under this subsection. 

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

19 defendant in a civil action under this subsection pre20 vails and the court finds that the plaintiff’s suit was 

21 frivolous, the court shall award a reasonable attor22 ney’s fee in favor of the defendant against the plain23 tiff. 

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

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1 section, no damages, attorney’s fee or other mone2 tary relief may be assessed against the woman upon 

3 whom the abortion was performed or attempted. 

4 ‘‘(d) IMMUNITY FROM PROSECUTION FOR WOMAN

5 UPON WHOM A DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION IS PER6 FORMED.—A woman upon whom a dismemberment abor7 tion is performed may not be prosecuted under this sec8 tion, for a conspiracy to violate this section, or for an of9 fense under section 2, 3, or 4 of this title based on a viola10 tion of this section. 

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

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

13 the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, 

14 drug, or any other substance or device— 

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

16 of a woman known to be pregnant; or 

17 ‘‘(B) to intentionally terminate the preg18 nancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with 

19 an intention other than— 

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

21 birth and preserve the life and health of 

22 the child born alive; or 

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

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

25 ‘dismemberment abortion’— 


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

2 the death of an unborn child, knowingly dis3 membering a living unborn child and extracting 

4 such unborn child one piece at a time or intact 

5 but crushed from the uterus through the use of 

6 clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors or 

7 similar instruments that, through the conver8 gence of two rigid levers, slice, crush or grasp 

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

10 cut or rip it off or crush it; but 

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

12 uses suction to dismember the body of the un13 born child by sucking fetal parts into a collec14 tion container unless the actions described in 

15 subparagraph (A) are used to cause the death 

16 of an unborn child but suction is subsequently 

17 used to extract fetal parts after the death of the 

18 unborn child. 

19 ‘‘(3) MINOR.—The term ‘minor’ means an indi20 vidual who has not attained the age of 18 years. 

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

22 a doctor of medicine or osteopathy legally authorized 

23 to practice medicine and surgery by the State in 

24 which the doctor performs such activity, or any 

25 other individual legally authorized by the State to 


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1 perform abortions: Provided, however, That any in2 dividual who is not a physician or not otherwise le3 gally authorized by the State to perform abortions, 

4 but who nevertheless directly performs an abortion 

5 prohibited in this section shall be subject to the pro6 visions of this section. 

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

8 means an individual organism of the species homo 

9 sapiens, beginning at fertilization, until the point of 

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

11 1.’’. 

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

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

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

15 item: 

‘‘1532. Dismemberment abortion ban.’’. 

16 (c) CHAPTER HEADING AMENDMENTS.— 

17 (1) CHAPTER HEADING IN CHAPTER.—The 

18 chapter heading for chapter 74 of title 18, United 

19 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘PARTIAL20 BIRTH ABORTIONS’’ and inserting ‘‘ABOR21 TIONS’’. 

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

23 item relating to chapter 74 in the table of chapters 

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


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

2 abortions’’ and inserting ‘‘Abortions’’. 

Æ 


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