II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1035 

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

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 4, 2019 

Mr. ROUNDS (for himself, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. 

HAWLEY, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mr. RISCH, Mr. DAINES, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Ms. ERNST, Mr. ENZI, Mr. THUNE, Mr. MORAN, and Mr. SCOTT

of South Carolina) 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 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 ‘‘Dismemberment Abor5 tion Ban Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION BAN. 

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

8 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1531 

9 the following: 


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1 ‘‘§ 1532. Dismemberment abortion ban 

2 ‘‘(a) DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION PROHIBITED.— 

3 ‘‘(1) OFFENSE.—Any physician who, in or af4 fecting interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly 

5 performs a dismemberment abortion and thereby 

6 kills an unborn child shall be fined under this title, 

7 imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both. 

8 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

9 apply to a dismemberment abortion that is necessary 

10 to save the life of a mother whose life is endangered 

11 by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical 

12 injury, including a life-endangering physical condi13 tion caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself. 

14 ‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec15 tion shall be construed to limit abortions performed for 

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

17 rape or incest, if performed by a method other than dis18 memberment abortion. 

19 ‘‘(c) CIVIL REMEDIES.— 

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

21 ABORTION IS PERFORMED.—A woman upon whom 

22 an abortion has been performed in violation of any 

23 provision of this section may, in a civil action 

24 against any person who committed the violation, ob25 tain appropriate relief. 


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

2 ON WHOM AN ABORTION IS PERFORMED.—A parent 

3 of a minor upon whom an abortion has been per4 formed in violation of any provision of this section 

5 may, in a civil action against any person who com6 mitted the violation, obtain appropriate relief, unless 

7 the pregnancy resulted from the plaintiff’s criminal 

8 conduct. 

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

10 in a civil action under this subsection includes— 

11 ‘‘(A) objectively verifiable money damages 

12 for all injuries, psychological and physical, occa13 sioned by the violation; 

14 ‘‘(B) statutory damages equal to 3 times 

15 the cost of the abortion; and 

16 ‘‘(C) punitive damages. 

17 ‘‘(4) ATTORNEY’S FEES FOR PLAINTIFF.—The 

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

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

20 under this subsection. 

21 ‘‘(5) ATTORNEY’S FEES FOR DEFENDANT.—If a 

22 defendant in a civil action under this subsection pre23 vails and the court finds that the plaintiff’s suit was 

24 frivolous, the court shall award a reasonable attorVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:41 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1035.IS S1035

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1 ney’s fee in favor of the defendant against the plain2 tiff. 

3 ‘‘(6) AWARDS AGAINST WOMAN.—Except as 

4 provided in paragraph (5), in a civil action under 

5 this subsection, no damages, attorney’s fee, or other 

6 monetary relief may be assessed against the woman 

7 upon whom the abortion was performed or at8 tempted. 

9 ‘‘(d) IMMUNITY FROM PROSECUTION FOR WOMAN

10 UPON WHOM A DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION IS PER11 FORMED.—A woman upon whom a dismemberment abor12 tion is performed may not be prosecuted under this sec13 tion, for a conspiracy to violate this section, or for an of14 fense under section 2, 3, or 4 of this title based on a viola15 tion of this section. 

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

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

18 the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, 

19 drug, or any other substance or device— 

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

21 of a woman known to be pregnant; or 

22 ‘‘(B) to intentionally terminate the preg23 nancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with 

24 an intention other than— 


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

2 birth and preserve the life and health of 

3 the child born alive; or 

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

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

6 ‘dismemberment abortion’— 

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

8 the death of an unborn child, knowingly dis9 membering a living unborn child and extracting 

10 such unborn child one piece at a time or intact 

11 but crushed from the uterus through the use of 

12 clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors or 

13 similar instruments that, through the conver14 gence of two rigid levers, slice, crush, or grasp 

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

16 cut or rip it off or crush it; and 

17 ‘‘(B) does not include an abortion that 

18 uses suction to dismember the body of the un19 born child by sucking fetal parts into a collec20 tion container unless the actions described in 

21 subparagraph (A) are used to cause the death 

22 of an unborn child but suction is subsequently 

23 used to extract fetal parts after the death of the 

24 unborn child. 


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1 ‘‘(3) MINOR.—The term ‘minor’ means an indi2 vidual who has not attained the age of 18 years. 

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

4 a doctor of medicine or osteopathy legally authorized 

5 to practice medicine and surgery by the State in 

6 which the doctor performs such activity, or any 

7 other individual legally authorized by the State to 

8 perform abortions. Any individual who is not a phy9 sician or not otherwise legally authorized by the 

10 State to perform abortions, but who nevertheless di11 rectly performs an abortion prohibited in this section 

12 shall be subject to the provisions of this section. 

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

14 means an individual organism of the species homo 

15 sapiens, beginning at fertilization, until the point of 

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

17 1.’’. 

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

19 for chapter 74 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 

20 by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘1532. Dismemberment abortion ban.’’. 

21 (c) CHAPTER HEADING AMENDMENTS.— 

22 (1) CHAPTER HEADING IN CHAPTER.—The 

23 chapter heading for chapter 74 of title 18, United 

24 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘PARTIALVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:41 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1035.IS S1035

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1 BIRTH ABORTIONS’’ and inserting ‘‘ABOR2 TIONS’’. 

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

4 item relating to chapter 74 in the table of chapters 

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

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

7 abortions’’ and inserting ‘‘Abortions’’. 

Æ 


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