I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 748 
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
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 
‘‘§ 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 
subsection, an abridgement of the right of a parent 
occurs 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 
physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness, 
including 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 sec-
tion.
‘‘(c) AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE.—It is an affirmative 
defense to a prosecution for an offense, or to a civil action, 
based on a violation of this section that the defendant rea-
sonably believed, based on information the defendant ob-
tained directly from a parent of the minor or other compel-
ling facts, that before the minor obtained the abortion, the 
parental consent or notification, or judicial authorization, 
took place that would have been required by the law re-
quiring parental involvement in a minor’s abortion deci-
sion, had the abortion been performed in the State where 
the minor resides. 
‘‘(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 sec-
tion— 
‘‘(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 prob-
ability of a live birth, to preserve the life or health 
of the child after live birth, or to remove a dead un-
born child who died as the result of a spontaneous