IV 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 206 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress and 

the States should investigate and correct abusive, unsanitary, and illegal 

abortion practices. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 8, 2013 

Mr. FINCHER (for himself, Mrs. BLACKBURN, and Mr. STUTZMAN) submitted 

the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

Congress and the States should investigate and correct 

abusive, unsanitary, and illegal abortion practices. 

Whereas the Declaration of Independence sets forth the principle that all people are created equal and are endowed 

by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that 

among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of 

happiness; 

Whereas the dedication of the people of the United States to 

this principle, though at times tragically marred by institutions such as slavery and practices such as segregation 

and the denial of the right to vote, has summoned the 


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•HRES 206 IH 

people of the United States time and again to fight for 

human dignity and the common good; 

Whereas the people of the United States believe that every 

human life is precious from its very beginning, and that 

every individual, regardless of age, health, or condition of 

dependency, deserves the respect and protection of society; 

Whereas the people of the United States believe that early 

and consistent care for mothers, with due regard both for 

the well-being of expectant mothers and for the children 

they carry, is a primary goal of any sound health care 

policy in the United States; 

Whereas no woman should ever be abandoned, by policy or 

practice, to the depredations of an unlicensed, unregulated, or uninspected clinic operating outside of the law 

with no regard for the mothers or children ostensibly 

under its care; 

Whereas the Report of the Grand Jury in the Court of Common Pleas of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, 

certified on January 14, 2011, contains the results of a 

thorough investigation of the policies and practices of Dr. 

Kermit Gosnell and the Women’s Medical Society of 

Philadelphia, which found multiple violations of law and 

public policy relating to abortion clinics, and recommended to the Pennsylvania Department of Health 

that these abortion clinics ‘‘be explicitly regulated as ambulatory surgical facilities, so that they are inspected annually and held to the same standards as all other outpatient procedure centers’’; 

Whereas the Report of the Grand Jury documented a pattern, over a period of 2 decades, at the Women’s Medical 


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Society of Philadelphia of untrained and uncertified personnel performing abortions, non-medical personnel administering medications, grossly unsanitary and dangerous conditions, violations of law regarding storage of 

human remains, and, above all, instances of willful murder of infants born alive by severing their spinal cords; 

Whereas the violations of law and human dignity documented 

at the Women’s Medical Society of Philadelphia involved 

women referred to the facility by abortion facilities in a 

number of surrounding States, including Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and Delaware; 

Whereas abortion clinics in a number of States, particularly 

Michigan and Maryland, and including 2 clinics at which 

Dr. Kermit Gosnell performed or initiated abortions and 

2 Planned Parenthood facilities in Delaware, have been 

closed temporarily or permanently due to unsanitary conditions, and the Planned Parenthood facilities in Delaware have been described by former employees as resembling a ‘‘meat market’’; 

Whereas the imposition of criminal and civil penalties on individuals and corporations involved in the deplorable 

practices described in this preamble is appropriate, but is 

not the only necessary response to such practices; 

Whereas it is essential that the Federal Government and 

State and local governments take action to prevent dangerous conditions at abortion clinics; 

Whereas government accountability means that officials 

whose duty it is to protect the safety and well-being of 

mothers accessing health care clinics must have their actions made public and their failures redressed; 


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Whereas the extent of, and purported justification for, legal 

and illegal abortions in the United States performed late 

in the second trimester of pregnancy and into and 

throughout the third trimester of pregnancy are not routinely reported by all States or by the Centers for Disease Control, and are therefore unknown; 

Whereas women and children in the United States deserve 

better than the 56,145,920 abortions that have been performed in the United States since the Supreme Court 

rulings in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, and Doe v. 

Bolton, 410 U.S. 179, in 1973; and 

Whereas there is substantial medical evidence that an unborn 

child is capable of experiencing pain at 20 weeks after 

fertilization, or earlier: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that— 

3 (1) Congress and States should gather informa4 tion about and correct— 

5 (A) abusive, unsanitary, and illegal abor6 tion practices; and 

7 (B) the interstate referral of women and 

8 girls to facilities engaged in dangerous or illegal 

9 second- and third-trimester procedures; 

10 (2) Congress has the responsibility to— 

11 (A) investigate and conduct hearings on— 

12 (i) abortions performed near, at, or 

13 after viability in the United States; and 


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1 (ii) public policies regarding such 

2 abortions; and 

3 (B) evaluate the extent to which such abor4 tions involve violations of the natural right to 

5 life of infants who are born alive or are capable 

6 of being born alive, and therefore are entitled to 

7 equal protection under the law; 

8 (3) there is a compelling governmental interest 

9 in protecting the lives of unborn children beginning 

10 at least from the stage at which substantial medical 

11 evidence indicates that they are capable of feeling 

12 pain, which is separate from and independent of the 

13 compelling governmental interest in protecting the 

14 lives of unborn children beginning at the stage of vi15 ability, and neither governmental interest is intended 

16 to replace the other; and 

17 (4) governmental review of public policies and 

18 outcomes relating to the issues described in para19 graphs (1) through (4) is long overdue and is an ur20 gent priority that must be addressed for the sake of 

21 women, children, families, and future generations. 

Æ 


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