IIB 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1797 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JUNE 19, 2013 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
AN ACT 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to protect pain- 
capable unborn children, 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 ‘‘Pain-Capable Unborn 
Child Protection Act’’. 
SEC. 2. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF 
CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY FOR ENACT-
MENT. 
Congress finds and declares the following: 
(1) Pain receptors (nociceptors) are present 
throughout the unborn child’s entire body and 
nerves link these receptors to the brain’s thalamus 
and subcortical plate by no later than 20 weeks after 
fertilization. 
(2) By 8 weeks after fertilization, the unborn 
child reacts to touch. After 20 weeks, the unborn 
child reacts to stimuli that would be recognized as 
painful if applied to an adult human, for example, 
by recoiling. 
(3) In the unborn child, application of such 
painful stimuli is associated with significant in-
creases in stress hormones known as the stress re-
sponse. 
(4) Subjection to such painful stimuli is associ-
ated with long-term harmful neurodevelopmental ef-
fects, such as altered pain sensitivity and, possibly, 
emotional, behavioral, and learning disabilities later 
in life. 
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(5) For the purposes of surgery on unborn chil-
dren, fetal anesthesia is routinely administered and 
is associated with a decrease in stress hormones 
compared to their level when painful stimuli are ap-
plied without such anesthesia. In the United States, 
surgery of this type is being performed by 20 weeks 
after fertilization and earlier in specialized units af-
filiated with children’s hospitals. 
(6) The position, asserted by some physicians, 
that the unborn child is incapable of experiencing 
pain until a point later in pregnancy than 20 weeks 
after fertilization predominately rests on the as-
sumption that the ability to experience pain depends 
on the cerebral cortex and requires nerve connec-
tions between the thalamus and the cortex. However, 
recent medical research and analysis, especially since 
2007, provides strong evidence for the conclusion 
that a functioning cortex is not necessary to experi-
ence pain. 
(7) Substantial evidence indicates that children 
born missing the bulk of the cerebral cortex, those 
with hydranencephaly, nevertheless experience pain. 
(8) In adult humans and in animals, stimula-
tion or ablation of the cerebral cortex does not alter 
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pain perception, while stimulation or ablation of the 
thalamus does. 
(9) Substantial evidence indicates that struc-
tures used for pain processing in early development 
differ from those of adults, using different neural 
elements available at specific times during develop-
ment, such as the subcortical plate, to fulfill the role 
of pain processing. 
(10) The position, asserted by some commenta-
tors, that the unborn child remains in a coma-like 
sleep state that precludes the unborn child experi-
encing pain is inconsistent with the documented re-
action of unborn children to painful stimuli and with 
the experience of fetal surgeons who have found it 
necessary to sedate the unborn child with anesthesia 
to prevent the unborn child from engaging in vig-
orous movement in reaction to invasive surgery. 
(11) Consequently, there is substantial medical 
evidence that an unborn child is capable of experi-
encing pain at least by 20 weeks after fertilization, 
if not earlier. 
(12) 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-
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stantial medical evidence indicates that they are ca-
pable of feeling pain. 
(13) The compelling governmental interest in 
protecting the lives of unborn children from the 
stage at which substantial medical evidence indicates 
that they are capable of feeling pain is intended to 
be separate from and independent of the compelling 
governmental interest in protecting the lives of un-
born children from the stage of viability, and neither 
governmental interest is intended to replace the 
other. 
(14) 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.—Notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, it shall be unlawful for any person 
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‘‘(ii) the substantial and irreversible phys-
ical impairment of a major bodily function, not 
including psychological or emotional conditions, 
of the pregnant woman; 
than would other available methods. 
‘‘(c) CRIMINAL PENALTY.—Whoever violates sub-
section (a) shall be fined under this title or imprisoned 
for not more than 5 years, or both. 
‘‘(d) BAR TO PROSECUTION.—A woman upon whom 
an abortion in violation of subsection (a) is performed or 
attempted may not be prosecuted under, or for a con-
spiracy to violate, subsection (a), or for an offense under 
section 2, 3, or 4 of this title based on such a violation. 
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section the following 
definitions apply: 
‘‘(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— 
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‘‘(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) ATTEMPT AN ABORTION.—The term ‘at-
tempt’, with respect to an abortion, means conduct 
that, under the circumstances as the actor believes 
them to be, constitutes a substantial step in a course 
of conduct planned to culminate in performing an 
abortion. 
‘‘(3) FERTILIZATION.—The term ‘fertilization’ 
means the fusion of human spermatozoon with a 
human ovum. 
‘‘(4) PERFORM.—The term ‘perform’, with re-
spect to an abortion, includes induce an abortion 
through a medical or chemical intervention including 
writing a prescription for a drug or device intended 
to result in an abortion. 
‘‘(5) PHYSICIAN.—The term ‘physician’ means 
a person licensed to practice medicine and surgery 
or osteopathic medicine and surgery, or otherwise le-
gally authorized to perform an abortion. 
‘‘(6) POST-FERTILIZATION
AGE.—The term 
‘post-fertilization age’ means the age of the unborn 
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child as calculated from the fusion of a human 
spermatozoon with a human ovum. 
‘‘(7) PROBABLE POST-FERTILIZATION AGE OF 
THE UNBORN CHILD.—The term ‘probable post-fer-
tilization age of the unborn child’ means what, in 
reasonable medical judgment, will with reasonable 
probability be the postfertilization age of the unborn 
child at the time the abortion is planned to be per-
formed or induced. 
‘‘(8) REASONABLE MEDICAL JUDGMENT.—The 
term ‘reasonable medical judgment’ means a medical 
judgment that would be made by a reasonably pru-
dent physician, knowledgeable about the case and 
the treatment possibilities with respect to the med-
ical conditions involved. 
‘‘(9) 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. 
‘‘(10) WOMAN.—The term ‘woman’ means a fe-
male human being whether or not she has reached 
the age of majority.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
at the beginning of chapter 74 of title 18, United States 
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Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
item: 
‘‘1532. Pain-capable unborn child protection.’’. 
(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 
Code, is amended by striking ‘‘Partial-Birth Abor-
tions’’ and inserting ‘‘Abortions’’. 
Passed the House of Representatives June 18, 2013. 
Attest: 
KAREN L. HAAS, 
Clerk. 
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