II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 78 

To impose admitting privilege requirements with respect to physicians who 

perform abortions. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 7, 2015 

Mr. VITTER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To impose admitting privilege requirements with respect to 

physicians who perform 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 ‘‘Pregnant Women 

5 Health and Safety Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT FOR PHYSICIANS RELATING TO THE 

7 PERFORMANCE OF ABORTIONS. 

8 Chapter 74 of title 18, United States Code, is amend9 ed by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘§ 1532. Prohibition on certain procedures 

2 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term 

3 ‘physician’ means a doctor of medicine or osteopathy le4 gally authorized to practice medicine and surgery by the 

5 State in which the doctor performs such activity, or any 

6 other individual legally authorized by the State to perform 

7 abortions. 

8 ‘‘(b) OFFENSE.—A physician who, in or affecting 

9 interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly performs an 

10 abortion and, in doing so, fails to comply with subsection 

11 (c), shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more 

12 than 2 years, or both. 

13 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS.—A physician who performs an 

14 abortion shall— 

15 ‘‘(1) have admitting privileges at a hospital to 

16 which the physician can travel in one hour or less 

17 (determined on the basis of starting at the principal 

18 medical office of the physician and traveling to the 

19 hospital) and under the average conditions of travel 

20 for the physician; and 

21 ‘‘(2) at the time of the abortion, notify the pa22 tient involved of the hospital location where the pa23 tient can receive follow-up care by the physician if 

24 complications resulting from the abortion arise. 

25 ‘‘(d) APPLICABILITY.—This section— 


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1 ‘‘(1) shall not apply to an abortion that is nec2 essary to save the life of a mother whose life is en3 dangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or 

4 physical injury, including a life-endangering physical 

5 condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy 

6 itself; and 

7 ‘‘(2) shall apply to any individual who is not a 

8 physician or not otherwise legally authorized by the 

9 State to perform abortions, but who nevertheless di10 rectly performs an abortion. 

11 ‘‘(e) LIMITATION.—A woman upon whom a procedure 

12 described in subsection (b) is performed may not be pros13 ecuted under this section, for a conspiracy to violate this 

14 section, or for an offense under section 2, 3, or 4 of this 

15 title based on a violation of this section.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT OF ABORTION CLINICS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each abortion clinic that receives 

18 any Federal funds or assistance shall— 

19 (1) be licensed by the State in which it is lo20 cated; and 

21 (2) be in compliance with the requirements ex22 isting on the date of enactment of this Act for am23 bulatory surgery centers under title XVIII of the So24 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.), except 


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1 for any requirement relating to a certificate of public 

2 need for State licensing purposes. 

3 (b) WAIVER.—For purposes of complying with sub4 section (a)(2) with respect to an abortion clinic, a State 

5 board of health may waive the application of certain struc6 tural requirements (as determined appropriate by the Sec7 retary of Health and Human Services). 

8 (c) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘abortion 

9 clinic’’ means a facility other than a hospital or an ambu10 latory surgery center, in which 25 or more first trimester 

11 abortions are performed during any 12-month period. 

Æ 


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