instruments to crush and tear the unborn child 
apart before removing the pieces of the dead child 
from the womb. 
(15) Medical complications from dismember-
ment abortions include, but are not limited to, pelvic 
infection; incomplete abortions (retained tissue); 
blood clots; heavy bleeding or hemorrhage; lacera-
tion, tear, or other injury to the cervix; puncture, 
laceration, tear, or other injury to the uterus; injury 
to the bowel or bladder; depression; anxiety; sub-
stance abuse; and other emotional or psychological 
problems. Further, in abortions performed after 15 
weeks gestation, there is a higher risk of requiring 
a hysterectomy, other reparative surgery, or blood 
transfusion. 
(16) Subparagraphs (J) and (K) of section 
2(14) of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 
(Public Law 108–105; 117 Stat. 1202) find that a 
late-term abortion, such as a dismemberment abor-
tion, ‘‘confuses the medical, legal, and ethical duties 
of physicians to preserve and promote life, as the 
physician acts directly against the physical life of a 
child’’ and ‘‘undermines the public’s perception of 
the appropriate role of a physician’’. 
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(17) ‘‘The [United States Supreme] Court has 
given state and federal legislatures wide discretion to 
pass legislation in areas where there is medical and 
scientific uncertainty’’ that ‘‘the law need not give 
abortion doctors unfettered choice in the course of 
their medical practice, nor should it elevate their 
status above other physicians in the medical commu-
nity,’’ and that ‘‘medical uncertainty does not fore-
close the exercise of legislative power in the abortion 
context any more than it does in other contexts,’’ 
(Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. at 124). 
(18) The Supreme Court has held that ‘‘It is 
time to heed the Constitution and return the issue 
of abortion to the people’s elected representatives’’. 
(Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 
142 S. Ct. 2228, 2243 (2022)). 
(19) It is the purpose of the Congress to assert 
a compelling governmental interest in protecting the 
lives of unborn children from the stage at which sub-
stantial medical evidence indicates that they are ca-
pable of feeling pain. 
(20) The Supreme Court has also held that ‘‘a 
law regulating abortion, like other health and wel-
fare laws, is entitled to a ‘strong presumption of va-
lidity.’ . . . It must be sustained if there is a rational 
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basis on which the legislature could have thought 
that it would serve legitimate state interests. . . . 
These legitimate interests include respect for and 
preservation of prenatal life at all stages of develop-
ment . . . ; the protection of maternal health and 
safety; the elimination of particularly gruesome or 
barbaric medical procedures; the preservation of the 
integrity of the medical profession; the mitigation of 
fetal pain; and the prevention of discrimination on 
the basis of race, sex, or disability.’’ (Dobbs v. Jack-
son Women’s Health Organization, 142 S. Ct. at 
2239). 
(21) Congress has authority to extend protec-
tion to pain-capable unborn children under the Su-
preme Court’s Commerce Clause precedents and 
under the Constitution’s grants of powers to Con-
gress under the Equal Protection, Due Process, and 
Enforcement Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. 
SEC. 3. PAIN-CAPABLE UNBORN CHILD PROTECTION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 74 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1531 
the following: 
‘‘§ 1532. Pain-capable unborn child protection 
‘‘(a) UNLAWFUL CONDUCT.—Subject to subsection 
(g) and notwithstanding any other provision of law, it shall 
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be unlawful for any person to perform an abortion or at-
tempt to do so, unless in conformity with the requirements 
set forth in subsection (b). 
‘‘(b) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR ABORTIONS.— 
‘‘(1) ASSESSMENT OF THE AGE OF THE UN-
BORN
CHILD.—The physician performing or at-
tempting the abortion shall first make a determina-
tion of the gestational age of the unborn child or 
reasonably rely upon such a determination made by 
another physician. In making such a determination, 
the physician shall make such inquiries of the preg-
nant woman and perform or cause to be performed 
such medical examinations and tests as a reasonably 
prudent physician, knowledgeable about the case and 
the medical conditions involved, would consider nec-
essary to make an accurate determination of gesta-
tional age. 
‘‘(2) PROHIBITION ON PERFORMANCE OF CER-
TAIN ABORTIONS.— 
‘‘(A) GENERALLY FOR UNBORN CHILDREN 
15 WEEKS OR OLDER.—Except as provided in 
subparagraph (B), the abortion shall not be 
performed or attempted, if the probable gesta-
tional age, as determined under paragraph (1), 
of the unborn child is 15 weeks or greater. 
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‘‘(B) 
EXCEPTIONS.—Subparagraph 
(A) 
does not apply if— 
‘‘(i) in reasonable medical judgment, 
the abortion is necessary to save the life of 
a pregnant woman whose life is endan-
gered by a physical disorder, physical ill-
ness, or physical injury, including a life-en-
dangering physical condition caused by or 
arising from the pregnancy itself, but not 
including psychological or emotional condi-
tions; 
‘‘(ii) the pregnancy is the result of 
rape against an adult woman, and at least 
48 hours prior to the abortion— 
‘‘(I) she has obtained counseling 
for the rape; or 
‘‘(II) she has obtained medical 
treatment for the rape or an injury 
related to the rape; or 
‘‘(iii) the pregnancy is a result of rape 
against a minor or incest against a minor, 
and the rape or incest has been reported at 
any time prior to the abortion to either— 
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