I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3130 
To ensure that women seeking an abortion receive an ultrasound and an 
opportunity to review the ultrasound before giving informed consent 
to receive an abortion. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 6, 2011 
Mrs. BACHMANN (for herself, Mr. GIBBS, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. GOH-
MERT, Mr. JONES, Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan, Mr. SMITH of New Jer-
sey, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mrs. SCHMIDT, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. 
AUSTRIA, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. BUCSHON, Mr. LAM-
BORN, Mr. SCALISE, Mr. KELLY, Mr. WESTMORELAND, Mr. BILIRAKIS, 
Mr. LATTA, Mrs. ELLMERS, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. BRADY 
of Texas, Mr. LONG, Mr. CRAVAACK, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. MILLER of 
Florida, Mr. PALAZZO, and Mr. FLEMING) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To ensure that women seeking an abortion receive an 
ultrasound and an opportunity to review the ultrasound 
before giving informed consent to receive an abortion. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Heartbeat Informed 
Consent Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) The presence of a heartbeat in a woman’s 
unborn child will be a material consideration to 
many women contemplating abortion. 
(2) The presence of a heartbeat in a woman’s 
unborn child is a developmental fact that illustrates 
to the woman that her baby is already alive. 
(3) On about the 21st or 22nd day after fer-
tilization (which is about 5 weeks from the first day 
of the last menstrual period) the heart of an unborn 
child begins to beat. 
(4) The heartbeat of an unborn child can be 
visually detected at an early stage of pregnancy 
using an ultrasound machine, typically, at 4 to 4.5 
weeks after fertilization (6 to 6.5 weeks from the 
first day of the last menstrual period) on 
transvaginal ultrasound, and at 5.5 to 6 weeks after 
fertilization (7.5 to 8 weeks from the first day of the 
last 
menstrual 
period) 
on 
transabdominal 
ultrasound. 
(5) The heartbeat of an unborn child can be 
made audible at later stages, including by using a 
handheld Doppler fetal monitor. 
(6) Less than five percent of all natural preg-
nancies end in spontaneous miscarriage after detec-
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tion of cardiac activity. A fetal heartbeat is therefore 
a key medical indicator that an unborn child is likely 
to achieve the capacity for live birth. 
(7) The observation of a heartbeat in a wom-
an’s unborn child, when a heartbeat has been de-
tected, is an important component of full informed 
consent. 
(8) Ensuring full informed consent for an abor-
tion is imperative, because of the profound physical 
and psychological risks of an abortion. As the Su-
preme Court has observed, ‘‘[t]he medical, emo-
tional, and psychological consequences of an abortion 
are serious and can be lasting.’’ H.L. v. Matheson, 
450 U.S. 398, 411 (1981). The woman’s decision 
whether to abort ‘‘is an important, and often a 
stressful one, and it is desirable and imperative that 
it be made with full knowledge of its nature and 
consequences.’’ Planned Parenthood v. Danforth, 
428 U.S. 52, 67 (1976). ‘‘Whether to have an abor-
tion requires a difficult and painful moral decision,’’ 
in which ‘‘some women come to regret their choice 
to abort the infant life they once created and sus-
tained,’’ and ‘‘[s]evere depression and loss of esteem 
can follow . . . The State has an interest in ensur-
ing so grave a choice is well informed. It is self-evi-
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dent that a mother who comes to regret her choice 
to abort must struggle with grief more anguished 
and sorrow more profound when she learns, only 
after the event, what she once did not know . . .’’ 
Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124, 159–160 
(2007). 
(9) Requiring providers to give a woman an op-
portunity to observe her unborn child’s heartbeat is 
constitutionally permissible, and the ultrasound 
image of an unborn child is truthful, nonmisleading 
information. ‘‘In attempting to ensure that a woman 
apprehend the full consequences of her decision, the 
State furthers the legitimate purpose of reducing the 
risk that a woman may elect an abortion, only to 
discover later, with devastating psychological con-
sequences, that her decision was not fully informed. 
If the information the State requires to be made 
available to the woman is truthful and not mis-
leading, the requirement may be permissible.’’ 
(Opinion of O’Connor, Kennedy, and Souter, 
Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 882 
(1992)). 
(10) Further, recent research, taking into ac-
count 22 studies with control groups and more than 
877,000 women over a 14-year period, finds that 
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