I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 679 

To prohibit certain late term abortions. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 11, 2003 

Mr. EDWARDS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To prohibit certain late term 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 ‘‘Late Term Abortion 

5 Ban Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROHIBITED ACTS INVOLVING ABORTION; DIS7 CIPLINARY PROVISIONS; REPORTING. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 (1) The term ‘‘abortion’’ means an act involving 

10 the use of an instrument, medicine, drug, or other 

11 substance or device developed to terminate the preg12 nancy of a woman if the act is done with an intenmstockstill on PROD1PC61 with BILLS

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1 tion other than to increase the probability of a live 

2 birth of the unborn child of the woman, to preserve 

3 the life or health of the child, or to remove a dead 

4 fetus. 

5 (2) The term ‘‘physician’’ means an individual 

6 licensed to practice medicine. 

7 (3) The term ‘‘viable’’ means the stage of fetal 

8 development when, in the good faith medical judg9 ment of the attending physician based on the par10 ticular facts of the case, an unborn child possesses 

11 the capacity to live outside its mother’s womb after 

12 its premature birth resulting from any cause. 

13 (4) The term ‘‘State’’ includes the District of 

14 Columbia, Puerto Rico, and any other territory or 

15 possession of the United States. 

16 (b) PROHIBITION.—Except as provided by subsection 

17 (d), a person may not intentionally or knowingly perform 

18 an abortion on a woman who is pregnant with a viable 

19 unborn child during the third trimester of the pregnancy. 

20 (c) SANCTION.—Each State shall enact appropriate 

21 legislation to assure that the body having authority over 

22 the licensing of physicians in that State may take any ap23 propriate disciplinary action against a physician who vio24 lates subsection (b) of this section. The board may refuse 

25 to admit to examination or refuse to issue a license or 

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1 renewal license to a person who violates subsection (b) of 

2 this section. 

3 (d) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (b) does not prohibit a 

4 person from performing an abortion if at the time of the 

5 abortion the person is a physician and concludes in good 

6 faith according to the physician’s best medical judgment— 

7 (1) that the pregnancy is not in the third tri8 mester; or 

9 (2) that the abortion is necessary to prevent the 

10 death or a substantial risk of serious impairment to 

11 the physical or mental health of the woman. 

12 (e) CERTIFICATION.—A physician who performs an 

13 abortion that, according to the physician’s best medical 

14 judgment at the time of the abortion, is to abort a viable 

15 unborn child during the third trimester of the pregnancy 

16 shall certify in writing to a State agency designated by 

17 State law, in such manner as that agency shall prescribe, 

18 the medical indications supporting the physician’s judg19 ment that the abortion was authorized by subsection 

20 (d)(2). The certification must be made on or before the 

21 30th day after the date the abortion was performed. 

22 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

23 This Act takes effect January 1, 2004, and applies 

24 only to an abortion performed on or after that date. 

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