II
Calendar No. 316
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 796
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
NOVEMBER 19 (legislative day, NOVEMBER 2), 1993
Received; read twice and placed on the calendar
AN ACT
To amend title 18, United States Code, to assure freedom
of access to reproductive services.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION l. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Freedom of Access
to Clinic Entrances Act of 1993’’.
SEC. 2. FREEDOM OF ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
SERVICES.
Chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘§ 248. 
Blocking 
access 
to 
reproductive 
health
services
‘‘(a) PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES.—Whoever—
‘‘(1) by force, threat of force, or physical ob-
struction, intentionally injures, intimidates, or inter-
feres with any person, or attempts to do so, because
that person or any other person or class of persons
is obtaining or providing reproductive health
services; or
‘‘(2) intentionally damages or destroys the
property of a facility, or attempts to do so, because
that facility provides reproductive health services;
shall be punished as provided in subsection (b) of this sec-
tion and also be subject to the civil remedy provided in
subsection (c) of this section, except that a parent or legal
guardian of a minor shall not be subject to any penalties
or civil remedies under this section for such activities inso-
far as they are directed exclusively at that minor.
‘‘(b) PENALTIES.—Whoever violates subsection (a) of
this section shall—
‘‘(1) in the case of a first offense, be fined
under this title or imprisoned not more than 1 year,
or both; and
‘‘(2) in the case of a second or subsequent of-
fense after a prior conviction under this section, be
fined under this title or imprisoned not more than
3 years, or both;
except that, if bodily injury results, the length of imprison-
ment shall be not more than 10 years, and if death results,
it shall be for any term of years or for life.
‘‘(c) CIVIL ACTIONS.—
‘‘(1) RIGHT OF ACTION GENERALLY.—Any per-
son who is aggrieved by a violation of subsection (a)
of this section may in a civil action obtain relief
under this subsection.
‘‘(2) ACTION BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.—If the
Attorney General has reasonable cause to believe
that any person, or group of persons, is aggrieved by
a violation of subsection (a) of this section, the At-
torney General may in a civil action obtain relief
under this subsection.
‘‘(3) ACTIONS
BY
STATE
ATTORNEYS
GEN-
ERAL.—If an attorney general of a State has reason-
able cause to believe that any person or group of
persons is aggrieved by a violation of subsection (a)
of this section, that attorney general may in a civil
action obtain relief under this subsection.
‘‘(4) RELIEF.—In any action under this sub-
section, the court may award any appropriate relief,
including temporary, preliminary or permanent in-
junctive relief, and compensatory and punitive dam-
ages for each person aggrieved by the violation. With
respect to compensatory damages, the aggrieved per-
son may elect, at any time before the rendering of
final judgment, to recover, in lieu of actual damages,
an award of statutory damages in the amount of
$5,000 per violation. The court may award to the
prevailing party, other than the United States, rea-
sonable fees for attorneys and expert witnesses.
‘‘(d) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—(1) Nothing in this
section shall be construed to prohibit any expressive con-
duct (including peaceful picketing or other peaceful dem-
onstration) protected from legal prohibition by the first
article of amendment to the Constitution.
‘‘(2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to
interfere with the authority of States to enforce State or
local laws regulating the provision of reproductive health
services.
‘‘(e) NON-PREEMPTION.—Congress does not intend
this section to provide the exclusive remedies with respect
to the conduct prohibited by it, nor to preempt the legisla-
tion of the States that may provide such remedies.
‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the fol-
lowing definitions apply:
‘‘(1) REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES.—The
term ‘reproductive health services’ means reproduc-
tive health services provided in a hospital, clinic,
physician’s office, or other facility, and includes
medical, surgical, counselling or referral services re-
lating to the human reproductive system.
‘‘(2) FACILITY.—The term ‘facility’ includes the
building or structure in which the facility is located.
‘‘(3) 
PHYSICAL
OBSTRUCTION.—The 
term
‘physical obstruction’ means rendering impassable
ingress to or egress from a facility that provides re-
productive health services, or rendering passage to
or from such facility unreasonably difficult.
‘‘(4) STATE.—The term ‘State’ includes a State
of the United States, the District of Columbia, and
any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the
United States.
‘‘(5) 
INTIMIDATE.—The 
term 
‘intimidate’
means to place a person in reasonable apprehension
of bodily harm to himself or herself or to another.’’.