I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3243
To prohibit late-term abortions.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 7, 2001
Mr. EDWARDS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To prohibit late-term abortions.
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 ‘‘Late Term Abortion
Ban Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITED ACTS INVOLVING ABORTION; DIS-
CIPLINARY PROVISIONS; REPORTING.
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
(1) The term ‘‘abortion’’ means an act involving
the use of an instrument, medicine, drug, or other
substance or device developed to terminate the preg-
nancy of a woman if the act is done with an inten-
tion other than to increase the probability of a live
birth of the unborn child of the woman, to preserve
the life or health of the child, or to remove a dead
fetus.
(2) The term ‘‘physician’’ means an individual
licensed to practice medicine.
(3) The term ‘‘viable’’ means the stage of fetal
development when, in the good faith medical judg-
ment of the attending physician based on the par-
ticular facts of the case, an unborn child possesses
the capacity to live outside its mother’s womb after
its premature birth resulting from any cause.
(4) The term ‘‘State’’ includes the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, and any other territory or
possession of the United States.
(b) PROHIBITION.—Except as provided by subsection
(d), a person may not intentionally or knowingly perform
an abortion on a woman who is pregnant with a viable
unborn child during the third trimester of the pregnancy.
(c) SANCTION.—Each State shall enact appropriate
legislation to assure that the body having authority over
the licensing of physicians in that State may take any ap-
propriate disciplinary action against a physician who vio-
lates subsection (b) of this section. The board may refuse
to admit to examination or refuse to issue a license or
renewal license to a person who violates subsection (b) of
this section.
(d) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (b) does not prohibit a
person from performing an abortion if at the time of the
abortion the person is a physician and concludes in good
faith according to the physician’s best medical judgment—
(1) that the pregnancy is not in the third tri-
mester; or
(2) that the abortion is necessary to prevent the
death or a substantial risk of serious impairment to
the physical or mental health of the woman.
(e) CERTIFICATION.—A physician who performs an
abortion that, according to the physician’s best medical
judgment at the time of the abortion, is to abort a viable
unborn child during the third trimester of the pregnancy
shall certify in writing to a State agency designated by
State law, in such manner as that agency shall prescribe,
the medical indications supporting the physician’s judg-
ment that the abortion was authorized by subsection
(d)(2). The certification must be made on or before the
30th day after the date the abortion was performed.
SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act takes effect January 1, 2002, and applies
only to an abortion performed on or after that date.
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