I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2373 
To prohibit discrimination against the unborn on the basis of sex, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 25, 2019 
Mrs. WAGNER (for herself, Mrs. HARTZLER, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. BABIN, Mr. 
BRADY, Mr. LUETKEMEYER, Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia, Mr. HICE 
of Georgia, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. GIBBS, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. 
BYRNE, Mr. HUIZENGA, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. KELLY of Mis-
sissippi, Mr. FLORES, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. OLSON, Mr. BANKS, Mr. SMITH 
of Missouri, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. ROUZER, Mr. HUDSON, Mr. WAT-
KINS, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania, Mr. THOMPSON of 
Pennsylvania, Mr. WRIGHT, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana, 
Mr. WALBERG, Mr. COLE, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. ESTES, Mr. STEWART, 
Mr. BIGGS, Mr. LATTA, Mr. JORDAN, Mr. WEBSTER of Florida, Mr. 
GROTHMAN, Mr. LOUDERMILK, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. 
DUFFY, Mr. PALAZZO, Mrs. LESKO, Mr. BROOKS of Alabama, and Mr. 
MEADOWS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To prohibit discrimination against the unborn on the basis 
of sex, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prenatal Non-
discrimination Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘PRENDA Act of 
2019’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following 
findings: 
(1) Women and girls possess the same funda-
mental human rights and civil rights as men and are 
essential to the formation of stable, peaceful soci-
eties. 
(2) Approximately 126,000,000 women and 
girls are missing from the world population due to 
systematic violence against women and girls, par-
ticularly sex-selection abortions, according to the 
United Nations Population Fund. 
(3) United States law prohibits the dissimilar 
treatment of males and females who are similarly 
situated and prohibits sex discrimination in various 
contexts, including the provision of employment, 
education, housing, health insurance coverage, and 
athletics. 
(4) A ‘‘sex-selection abortion’’ is an abortion 
undertaken for purposes of eliminating an unborn 
child of an undesired sex. Sex-selection abortion is 
described by scholars and civil rights advocates as 
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an act of sex-based or gender-based violence, predi-
cated on sex discrimination. By definition, sex-selec-
tion abortions do not implicate the health of the 
mother of the unborn, but instead are elective proce-
dures motivated by sex or gender bias. 
(5) The targeted victims of sex-selection abor-
tions performed in the United States and worldwide 
are overwhelmingly female. 
(6) Sex-selection abortions are not expressly 
prohibited by United States law, and only 7 States 
ban abortions for reason of sex selection at some 
point in pregnancy. Sex is an immutable char-
acteristic ascertainable at the earliest stages of 
human development through existing medical tech-
nology and procedures commonly in use, including 
maternal-fetal bloodstream DNA sampling, amnio-
centesis, chorionic villus sampling or ‘‘CVS’’, and 
obstetric ultrasound. 
(7) Sex-selection abortions have the effect of di-
minishing the representation of women in the Amer-
ican population, and therefore, the American elec-
torate. 
(8) Sex-selection abortions reinforce sex dis-
crimination and have no place in a civilized society. 
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(9) The history of the United States includes 
many examples of sex discrimination. The people of 
the United States ultimately responded in the 
strongest possible legal terms by enacting a constitu-
tional amendment correcting an element of this dis-
crimination. Women, once subjected to sex discrimi-
nation that denied them the right to vote, now have 
suffrage guaranteed by the 19th Amendment. The 
elimination of discriminatory practices has been and 
is among the highest priorities and greatest achieve-
ments of American history. 
(10) Implicitly approving the discriminatory 
practices of sex-selection abortion by choosing not to 
prohibit them will reinforce sex discrimination, and 
coarsen society to the value of females. Thus, Con-
gress has a compelling interest in acting—indeed it 
must act—to prohibit sex-selection abortion. 
(b) CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY.—In accordance 
with the above findings, Congress enacts the following 
pursuant to Congress’ power under— 
(1) the Commerce Clause; 
(2) section 5 of the 14th Amendment, including 
the power to enforce the prohibition on government 
action denying equal protection of the laws; and 
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(3) section 8 of article I to make all laws nec-
essary and proper for the carrying into execution of 
powers vested by the Constitution in the Govern-
ment of the United States. 
SEC. 3. DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE UNBORN ON THE 
BASIS OF SEX. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 13 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘§ 250. Discrimination against the unborn on the 
basis of sex 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever knowingly— 
‘‘(1) performs an abortion knowing that such 
abortion is sought based on the sex or gender of the 
child; 
‘‘(2) uses force or the threat of force to inten-
tionally injure or intimidate any person for the pur-
pose of coercing a sex-selection abortion; 
‘‘(3) solicits or accepts funds for the perform-
ance of a sex-selection abortion; or 
‘‘(4) transports a woman into the United States 
or across a State line for the purpose of obtaining 
a sex-selection abortion, 
or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or im-
prisoned not more than 5 years, or both. 
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‘‘(b) CIVIL REMEDIES.— 
‘‘(1) CIVIL ACTION BY WOMAN ON WHOM ABOR-
TION
IS
PERFORMED.—A woman upon whom an 
abortion has been performed or attempted in viola-
tion of subsection (a)(2) may in a civil action 
against any person who engaged in a violation of 
subsection (a) obtain appropriate relief. 
‘‘(2) CIVIL ACTION BY RELATIVES.—The father 
of an unborn child who is the subject of an abortion 
performed or attempted in violation of subsection 
(a), or a maternal grandparent of the unborn child 
if the pregnant woman is an unemancipated minor, 
may in a civil action against any person who en-
gaged in the violation, obtain appropriate relief, un-
less the pregnancy or abortion resulted from the 
plaintiff’s criminal conduct or the plaintiff consented 
to the abortion. 
‘‘(3) APPROPRIATE RELIEF.—Appropriate relief 
in a civil action under this subsection includes— 
‘‘(A) objectively verifiable money damages 
for all injuries, psychological and physical, in-
cluding loss of companionship and support, oc-
casioned by the violation of this section; and 
‘‘(B) punitive damages. 
‘‘(4) INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.— 
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‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—A qualified plaintiff 
may in a civil action obtain injunctive relief to 
prevent an abortion provider from performing 
or attempting further abortions in violation of 
this section. 
‘‘(B) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph the 
term ‘qualified plaintiff’ means— 
‘‘(i) a woman upon whom an abortion 
is performed or attempted in violation of 
this section; 
‘‘(ii) a maternal grandparent of the 
unborn child if the woman upon whom an 
abortion is performed or attempted in vio-
lation of this section is an unemancipated 
minor; 
‘‘(iii) the father of an unborn child 
who is the subject of an abortion per-
formed or attempted in violation of sub-
section (a); or 
‘‘(iv) the Attorney General. 
‘‘(5) 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. 
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‘‘(c) BAR TO PROSECUTION.—A woman upon whom 
a sex-selection abortion is performed may not be pros-
ecuted or held civilly liable for any violation of this section, 
or for a conspiracy to violate under this section, for a con-
spiracy to violate this section, or for an offense under sec-
tion 2, 3, or 4 of this title based on a violation of this 
section. 
‘‘(d) LOSS OF FEDERAL FUNDING.—A violation of 
subsection (a) shall be deemed for the purposes of title 
VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to be discrimination 
prohibited by section 601 of that Act. 
‘‘(e) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—A physician, phy-
sician’s assistant, nurse, counselor, or other medical or 
mental health professional shall report known or suspected 
violations of any of this section to appropriate Federal, 
State, and local law enforcement authorities. Whoever vio-
lates this requirement shall be fined under this title or 
imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both. 
‘‘(f) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION.—It shall be the 
duty of the United States district courts, United States 
courts of appeal, and the Supreme Court of the United 
States to advance on the docket and to expedite to the 
greatest possible extent the disposition of any matter 
brought under this section. 
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‘‘(g) PROTECTION
OF PRIVACY
IN COURT PRO-
CEEDINGS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except to the extent the 
Constitution or other similarly compelling reason re-
quires, in every civil or criminal action under this 
section, the court shall make such orders as are nec-
essary to protect the anonymity of any woman upon 
whom an abortion has been performed or attempted 
if she does not give her written consent to such dis-
closure. Such orders may be made upon motion, but 
shall be made sua sponte if not otherwise sought by 
a party. 
‘‘(2) ORDERS
TO
PARTIES, WITNESSES, AND 
COUNSEL.—The court shall issue appropriate orders 
to the parties, witnesses, and counsel and shall di-
rect the sealing of the record and exclusion of indi-
viduals from courtrooms or hearing rooms to the ex-
tent necessary to safeguard the identity of the 
woman described in paragraph (1) from public dis-
closure. 
‘‘(3) PSEUDONYM REQUIRED.—In the absence 
of written consent of the woman upon whom an 
abortion has been performed or attempted, any 
party, other than a public official, who brings an ac-
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tion under this section shall do so under a pseu-
donym. 
‘‘(4) LIMITATION.—This subsection shall not be 
construed to conceal the identity of the plaintiff or 
of witnesses from the defendant or from attorneys 
for the defendant. 
‘‘(h) DEFINITION.—In this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘abortion’ means the act of using 
or prescribing any instrument, medicine, drug, or 
any other substance, device, or means with the in-
tent to— 
‘‘(A) kill the unborn child of a woman 
known to be pregnant; or 
‘‘(B) terminate the pregnancy 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; 
and 
‘‘(2) the term ‘sex-selection abortion’ means an 
abortion undertaken for purposes of eliminating an 
unborn child of an undesired sex.’’. 
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(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
at the beginning of chapter 13 of title 18, United States 
Code, is amended by adding after the item relating to sec-
tion 249 the following new item: 
‘‘250. Discrimination against the unborn on the basis of sex.’’. 
SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY. 
If any portion of this Act or the application thereof 
to any person or circumstance is held invalid, such inva-
lidity shall not affect the portions or applications of this 
Act which can be given effect without the invalid portion 
or application. 
Æ 
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