I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7016 
To prohibit discrimination against the unborn on the basis of sex or race, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 23, 2008 
Mr. FRANKS of Arizona (for himself, Mr. TAYLOR, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. 
LIPINSKI, Mr. SMITH of Texas, and Mr. PENCE) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To prohibit discrimination against the unborn on the basis 
of sex or race, 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 ‘‘Susan B. Anthony Pre-
natal Nondiscrimination Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following 
findings: 
(1) SEX DISCRIMINATION FINDINGS.— 
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(A) Women are a vital part of American 
society and culture and possess the same funda-
mental human rights and civil rights as men. 
(B) United States law prohibits the dis-
similar treatment for males and females who 
are similarly situated and prohibits sex dis-
crimination in various contexts, including the 
provision of employment, education, housing, 
health insurance coverage, and athletics. 
(C) Sex is an immutable characteristic, 
and is ascertainable at the earliest stages of 
human development through existing medical 
technology and procedures commonly in use, in-
cluding maternal-fetal bloodstream DNA sam-
pling, amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling 
or ‘‘CVS’’, and medical sonography. In addition 
to medically assisted sex-determination carried 
out by medical professionals, a growing sex-de-
termination niche industry has developed and is 
marketing low-cost commercial products, widely 
advertised and available, that aid in the sex de-
termination of an unborn child without the aid 
of medical professionals. Experts have dem-
onstrated that the sex-selection industry is on 
the rise and predict that it will continue to be 
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a growing trend in the United States. Sex de-
termination is always a necessary step to the 
procurement of a sex-selection abortion. 
(D) A ‘‘sex-selection abortion’’ is an abor-
tion undertaken for purposes of eliminating an 
unborn child of an undesired sex. Sex-selection 
abortion is barbaric, and described by scholars 
and civil rights advocates as an act of sex-based 
or gender-based violence, predicated on sex dis-
crimination. By definition, sex-selection abor-
tions do not implicate the health of the mother 
of the unborn, but instead are elective proce-
dures motivated by sex or gender bias. 
(E) The targeted victims of sex-selection 
abortions performed in the United States and 
worldwide are overwhelmingly female. The se-
lective abortion of females has been termed ‘‘fe-
male infanticide’’ and is defined by the United 
Nations Children’s Fund and the United Na-
tions Population Fund (UNPFA) in its 2005 
Programme of Action of the International Con-
ference on Population and Development as the 
intentional killing of unborn females due to the 
preference for male offspring or ‘‘son pref-
erence’’. According to the UNPFA, son pref-
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erence is reinforced by the low value associated, 
by some segments of the world community, with 
female offspring. Those segments tend to re-
gard female offspring as financial burdens to a 
family over their lifetime due to their perceived 
inability to earn or provide financially for the 
family unit as can a male. In addition, due to 
social and legal convention, female offspring are 
less likely to carry on the family name. ‘‘Son 
preference’’ is one of the most evident mani-
festations of sex or gender discrimination in 
any society, undermining female equality, and 
fueling the elimination of females’ right to exist 
in instances of sex-selection abortion. 
(F) Sex-selection abortions are not ex-
pressly prohibited by United States law and the 
laws of 48 States. Sex-selection abortions are 
performed in the United States. In a March 
2008 report published in the Proceedings of the 
National Academy of Sciences, Columbia Uni-
versity economists Douglas Almond and Lena 
Edlund examined the sex ratio of United 
States-born children and found ‘‘evidence of sex 
selection, most likely at the prenatal stage’’. 
The data revealed obvious ‘‘son preference’’ in 
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the form of unnatural sex-ratio imbalances 
within certain segments of the United States 
population, primarily those segments tracing 
their ethnic or cultural origins to countries 
where sex-selection abortion is prevalent. The 
evidence strongly suggests that some Americans 
are exercising sex-selection abortion practices 
within the United States consistent with dis-
criminatory practices common to their country 
of origin, or the country to which they trace 
their ancestry. While sex-selection abortions are 
more common outside the United States, the 
evidence reveals that female feticide is also oc-
curring in the United States. 
(G) The American public supports a prohi-
bition of sex-selection abortion. In a March 
2006 Zogby International poll, 86 percent of 
Americans agreed that sex-selection abortion 
should be illegal, yet only two States have pro-
scribed sex-selection abortion. 
(H) Despite the failure of the United 
States to proscribe sex-selection abortion, the 
United States Congress has expressed repeat-
edly, through Congressional resolution, strong 
condemnation of policies promoting sex-selec-
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