I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6300 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose a tax of 100 

percent on amounts received as statutory damages under certain lawsuits 

filed under State law and to require the Secretary of the Treasury 

to issue grants for amounts paid under such State laws and reasonable 

attorney’s fees. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 16, 2021 

Mrs. FLETCHER (for herself and Mr. MALINOWSKI) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose 

a tax of 100 percent on amounts received as statutory 

damages under certain lawsuits filed under State law 

and to require the Secretary of the Treasury to issue 

grants for amounts paid under such State laws and 

reasonable attorney’s fees. 

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 ‘‘Stopping Abortion 

5 Bounties Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Abortion is an essential health care service 

4 and allows individuals to have full autonomy over 

5 their bodies and their pregnancies, their families, 

6 and their lives. 

7 (2) In 1973, the United States Supreme Court 

8 issued its landmark decision in Roe v. Wade guaran9 teeing the constitutional right to abortion. 

10 (3) In the nearly fifty years since the Roe v. 

11 Wade decision, anti-abortion politicians have at12 tempted to—and in some cases succeeded in—pass13 ing laws to restrict access to abortion. 

14 (4) On May 19, 2021, the Governor of Texas 

15 signed Senate Bill 8 (hereafter referred to as ‘‘S.B. 

16 8’’) into law, which bans abortion care after approxi17 mately six weeks of pregnancy—before many people 

18 even know they are pregnant. 

19 (5) The Supreme Court allowed this unconstitu20 tional law to go into effect on September 1, 2021, 

21 and remain in place in the following months. 

22 (6) As a result of this law, many Texans have 

23 been forced to travel hundreds of miles and cross 

24 State lines to access constitutionally protected health 

25 care or to carry pregnancies to term against their 

26 will. 


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1 (7) Many people who obtain abortions in Texas 

2 are at least six weeks into pregnancy, meaning that 

3 abortion in most instances will be out of reach for 

4 patients for as long as the law is in effect. 

5 (8) S.B. 8 provides a private right of action al6 lowing ‘‘any person’’ to sue abortion providers and 

7 ‘‘any person’’ who helps a person obtain an abortion 

8 after approximately six weeks of pregnancy or in9 tends to do so. 

10 (9) S.B. 8 incentivizes private individuals to sue 

11 by providing that a prevailing plaintiff shall receive 

12 at least $10,000 in damages, as well as costs and at13 torney’s fees. 

14 (10) This ban is an attempt to isolate individ15 uals seeking abortions in Texas from their commu16 nities and critical support networks, discouraging 

17 them from helping for fear of being sued. 

18 (11) Lawmakers in many other states have in19 troduced or have voiced their intent to introduce 

20 similar bills. 

21 (12) No one should profit from the restriction 

22 of abortion, or a bounty intended to restrict access 

23 to fundamental reproductive health care. 


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1 SEC. 3. TAX IMPOSED ON STATUTORY DAMAGES IN BOUNTY 

2 LAWSUITS. 

3 (a) TAX IMPOSED.—The Internal Revenue Code of 

4 1986 is amended by inserting after section 3 the following 

5 new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 4. TAX ON CERTAIN AMOUNTS RECEIVED AS STATU7 TORY DAMAGES. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is hereby imposed a tax 

9 on amounts received as statutory damages under a State 

10 bounty statute of 100 percent of such amounts on each 

11 taxpayer who receives such amounts in a taxable year. 

12 ‘‘(b) BOUNTY STATUTE.—For the purposes of this 

13 section, the term ‘bounty statute’ means a statute which 

14 authorizes a person to file a civil action and collect dam15 ages based on a violation of that statute, which violation 

16 involves exercising, or assisting another person in exer17 cising, the constitutional right to have an abortion. 

18 ‘‘(c) EXCLUSION FROM GROSS INCOME.—Gross in19 come of a taxpayer determined under any provision of this 

20 title shall be determined without regard to any income de21 scribed in subsection (a). 

22 ‘‘(d) REPORTING.—The Secretary shall require re23 porting of such information and by such persons as the 

24 Secretary determines appropriate to prevent the avoidance 

25 of the tax imposed by this section.’’. 


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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec2 tions for part I of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code 

3 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 

4 3 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 4. Tax on certain amounts received as statutory damages.’’. 

5 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

6 this Act shall apply to amounts received after the date 

7 of the enactment of this Act. 

8 SEC. 4. GRANT TO DEFENDANTS IN CERTAIN CIVIL SUITS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury 

10 shall issue a grant to any person that pays or incurs 

11 amounts under a court order resulting from a suit filed 

12 under a bounty statute, as defined in section 4, in an 

13 amount equal to the sum of— 

14 (1) the amount paid or incurred by such person 

15 as statutory damages under such bounty statute, 

16 and 

17 (2) reasonable attorney’s fees paid or incurred 

18 relating to such suit. 

19 (b) GRANT EXCLUDED FROM INCOME.—Gross in20 come of a taxpayer determined under any provision of the 

21 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall be determined with22 out regard to this section. 

23 (c) APPROPRIATION.—There is hereby appropriated 

24 to the Secretary of the Treasury the amount of the grants 

25 made under this section. 


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1 (d) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall issue such 

2 regulations or other guidance as may be necessary or ap3 propriate to carry out the purposes of this section. 

Æ 


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