I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3515 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit dismemberment abortions, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mrs. HARTZLER, Ms. FOXX, and Mr. 
FRANKS of Arizona) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit 
dismemberment abortions, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Dismemberment Abor-
tion Ban Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION BAN. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 74 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1531 
the following: 
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‘‘§ 1532. Dismemberment abortion ban 
‘‘(a) DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION PROHIBITED.— 
Any physician who, in or affecting interstate or foreign 
commerce, knowingly performs a dismemberment abortion 
and thereby kills an unborn child shall be fined under this 
title or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both. This 
subsection does not apply to a dismemberment abortion 
that is necessary to save the life of a mother whose life 
is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or 
physical injury, including a life-endangering physical con-
dition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself. 
‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-
tion shall be construed to limit abortions performed for 
any reason, including when the pregnancy is a result of 
rape or incest, if performed by a method other than dis-
memberment abortion. 
‘‘(c) CIVIL REMEDIES.— 
‘‘(1) CIVIL ACTION BY A WOMAN ON WHOM AN 
ABORTION IS PERFORMED.—A woman upon whom 
an abortion has been performed in violation of any 
provision of this section may, in a civil action 
against any person who committed the violation, ob-
tain appropriate relief. 
‘‘(2) CIVIL ACTION BY A PARENT OF A MINOR 
ON WHOM AN ABORTION IS PERFORMED.—A parent 
of a minor upon whom an abortion has been per-
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formed in violation of any provision of this section 
may, in a civil action against any person who com-
mitted the violation obtain appropriate relief, unless 
the pregnancy resulted from the plaintiff’s criminal 
conduct. 
‘‘(3) APPROPRIATE RELIEF.—Appropriate relief 
in a civil action under this subsection includes— 
‘‘(A) objectively verifiable money damages 
for all injuries, psychological and physical, occa-
sioned by the violation; 
‘‘(B) statutory damages equal to three 
times the cost of the abortion; and 
‘‘(C) punitive damages. 
‘‘(4) ATTORNEYS FEES FOR PLAINTIFF.—The 
court shall award a reasonable attorney’s fee as part 
of the costs to a prevailing plaintiff in a civil action 
under this subsection. 
‘‘(5) ATTORNEYS FEES FOR DEFENDANT.—If a 
defendant in a civil action under this subsection pre-
vails and the court finds that the plaintiff’s suit was 
frivolous, the court shall award a reasonable attor-
ney’s fee in favor of the defendant against the plain-
tiff. 
‘‘(6) AWARDS AGAINST WOMAN.—Except under 
paragraph (5), in a civil action under this sub-
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section, no damages, attorney’s fee or other mone-
tary relief may be assessed against the woman upon 
whom the abortion was performed or attempted. 
‘‘(d) IMMUNITY FROM PROSECUTION FOR WOMAN 
UPON WHOM A DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION IS PER-
FORMED.—A woman upon whom a dismemberment abor-
tion is performed may not be prosecuted under this sec-
tion, for a conspiracy to violate this section, or for an of-
fense under section 2, 3, or 4 of this title based on a viola-
tion of this section. 
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
‘‘(1) ABORTION.—The term ‘abortion’ means 
the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, 
drug, or any other substance or device— 
‘‘(A) to intentionally kill the unborn child 
of a woman known to be pregnant; or 
‘‘(B) to intentionally terminate the preg-
nancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with 
an intention other than— 
‘‘(i) after viability to produce a live 
birth and preserve the life and health of 
the child born alive; or 
‘‘(ii) to remove a dead unborn child. 
‘‘(2) DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION.—The term 
‘dismemberment abortion’— 
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‘‘(A) means, with the purpose of causing 
the death of an unborn child, knowingly dis-
membering a living unborn child and extracting 
such unborn child one piece at a time or intact 
but crushed from the uterus through the use of 
clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors or 
similar instruments that, through the conver-
gence of two rigid levers, slice, crush or grasp 
a portion of the unborn child’s body in order to 
cut or rip it off or crush it; but 
‘‘(B) does not include an abortion which 
uses suction to dismember the body of the un-
born child by sucking fetal parts into a collec-
tion container unless the actions described in 
subparagraph (A) are used to cause the death 
of an unborn child but suction is subsequently 
used to extract fetal parts after the death of the 
unborn child. 
‘‘(3) MINOR.—The term ‘minor’ means an indi-
vidual who has not attained the age of 18 years. 
‘‘(4) PHYSICIAN.—The term ‘physician’ means 
a doctor of medicine or osteopathy legally authorized 
to practice medicine and surgery by the State in 
which the doctor performs such activity, or any 
other individual legally authorized by the State to 
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perform abortions: Provided, however, That any in-
dividual who is not a physician or not otherwise le-
gally authorized by the State to perform abortions, 
but who nevertheless directly performs an abortion 
prohibited in this section shall be subject to the pro-
visions of this section. 
‘‘(5) UNBORN CHILD.—The term ‘unborn child’ 
means an individual organism of the species homo 
sapiens, beginning at fertilization, until the point of 
being born alive as defined in section 8(b) of title 
1.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
at the beginning of chapter 74 of title 18, United States 
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
item: 
‘‘1532. Dismemberment abortion ban.’’. 
(c) CHAPTER HEADING AMENDMENTS.— 
(1) CHAPTER
HEADING
IN
CHAPTER.—The 
chapter heading for chapter 74 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘PARTIAL- 
BIRTH ABORTIONS’’ and inserting ‘‘ABOR-
TIONS’’. 
(2) TABLE OF CHAPTERS FOR PART I.—The 
item relating to chapter 74 in the table of chapters 
at the beginning of part I of title 18, United States 
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Code, is amended by striking ‘‘Partial-birth 
abortions’’ and inserting ‘‘Abortions’’. 
Æ 
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