IB 
Union Calendar No. 30 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 748 
[Report No. 109–51] 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prevent the transportation of 
minors in circumvention of certain laws relating to abortion, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 10, 2005 
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mr. PITTS, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. MCCAUL of 
Texas, Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, Mr. 
MCCOTTER, Mr. TERRY, Mr. WICKER, Mr. BAKER, Mr. WAMP, Mr. 
HAYES, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. AKIN, Mr. 
PICKERING, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr. LATOURETTE, Ms. HART, Mr. 
HAYWORTH, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina, Mr. 
PLATTS, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. CANTOR, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. 
BERRY, Mrs. NORTHUP, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. MARIO 
DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. 
BUYER, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of 
Florida, Mr. HYDE, Mr. MCHENRY, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. RYUN 
of Kansas, Mr. STEARNS, Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. 
FERGUSON, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr. FRANKS of 
Arizona, Mr. SOUDER, Ms. FOXX, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. SES-
SIONS, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. CHOCOLA, Mr. 
HOSTETTLER, Mrs. DRAKE, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. 
BRADY of Texas, Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, 
Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota, Mr. 
FORBES, Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. 
BURTON of Indiana, Mr. DELAY, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, Mr. LATHAM, 
Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. RENZI, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. 
NEUGEBAUER, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mrs. MUSGRAVE, Mr. MCCRERY, 
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky, Mr. PENCE, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. COSTELLO, 
Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina, Mr. 
GOODLATTE, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. PUTNAM, 
Mr. SULLIVAN, Mrs. MILLER of Michigan, Mr. WESTMORELAND, Miss 
MCMORRIS, Mr. SHUSTER, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. INGLIS
of South Carolina, Mr. GOODE, Mr. NEY, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. 
FOSSELLA, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. GUTKNECHT, and Mr. LAHOOD) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
APRIL 21, 2005 
Additional sponsors: Mr. EVERETT, Mr. MORAN of Kansas, Mr. HERGER, Mr. 
TAYLOR of Mississippi, Mr. OTTER, Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin, Mr. KLINE, 
Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. SKELTON, Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. HALL, Mr. MILLER of 
Florida, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. PETRI, Mr. LINDER, Mr. CAMP, Mr. 
BONILLA, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. TURNER, Mr. SHADEGG, 
Mr. WOLF, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, and Mr. SCHWARZ of Michigan 
APRIL 21, 2005 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 10, 2005] 
A BILL 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prevent the trans-
portation of minors in circumvention of certain laws re-
lating to abortion, 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 ‘‘Child Interstate Abor-
tion Notification Act’’. 
SEC. 2. TRANSPORTATION OF MINORS IN CIRCUMVENTION 
OF CERTAIN LAWS RELATING TO ABORTION. 
Title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
after chapter 117 the following:
‘‘CHAPTER 
117A—TRANSPORTATION 
OF 
MINORS IN CIRCUMVENTION OF CER-
TAIN LAWS RELATING TO ABORTION 
‘‘Sec. 
‘‘2431. Transportation of minors in circumvention of certain laws relating to 
abortion. 
‘‘§ 2431. Transportation of minors in circumvention of 
certain laws relating to abortion 
‘‘(a) OFFENSE.— 
‘‘(1) GENERALLY.—Except as provided in sub-
section (b), whoever knowingly transports a minor 
across a State line, with the intent that such minor 
obtain an abortion, and thereby in fact abridges the 
right of a parent under a law requiring parental in-
volvement in a minor’s abortion decision, in force in 
the State where the minor resides, shall be fined 
under this title or imprisoned not more than one 
year, or both. 
‘‘(2) DEFINITION.—For the purposes of this sub-
section, an abridgement of the right of a parent oc-
curs if an abortion is performed or induced on the 
minor, in a State other than the State where the 
minor resides, without the parental consent or notifi-
cation, or the judicial authorization, that would have 
been required by that law had the abortion been per-
formed in the State where the minor resides. 
‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.—
‘‘(1) The prohibition of subsection (a) does not 
apply if the abortion was necessary to save the life of 
the minor because her life was endangered by a phys-
ical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness, in-
cluding a life endangering physical condition caused 
by or arising from the pregnancy itself. 
‘‘(2) A minor transported in violation of this 
section, and any parent of that minor, may not be 
prosecuted or sued for a violation of this section, a 
conspiracy to violate this section, or an offense under 
section 2 or 3 based on a violation of this section. 
‘‘(c) AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE.—It is an affirmative de-
fense to a prosecution for an offense, or to a civil action, 
based on a violation of this section that the defendant— 
‘‘(1) reasonably believed, based on information 
the defendant obtained directly from a parent of the 
minor, that before the minor obtained the abortion, 
the parental consent or notification took place that 
would have been required by the law requiring paren-
tal involvement in a minor’s abortion decision, had 
the abortion been performed in the State where the 
minor resides; or 
‘‘(2) was presented with documentation showing 
with a reasonable degree of certainty that a court in 
the minor’s State of residence waived any parental
notification required by the laws of that State, or oth-
erwise authorized that the minor be allowed to pro-
cure an abortion. 
‘‘(d) CIVIL ACTION.—Any parent who suffers harm 
from a violation of subsection (a) may obtain appropriate 
relief in a civil action. 
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘abortion’ means the use or pre-
scription of any instrument, medicine, drug, or any 
other substance or device intentionally to terminate 
the pregnancy of a female known to be pregnant with 
an intention other than to increase the probability of 
a live birth, to preserve the life or health of the child 
after live birth, or to remove a dead unborn child who 
died as the result of a spontaneous abortion, acci-
dental trauma or a criminal assault on the pregnant 
female or her unborn child; 
‘‘(2) the term a ‘law requiring parental involve-
ment in a minor’s abortion decision’ means a law— 
‘‘(A) requiring, before an abortion is per-
formed on a minor, either— 
‘‘(i) the notification to, or consent of, a 
parent of that minor; or 
‘‘(ii) proceedings in a State court; and