Sponsors (50)
The bill strengthens legal protections and required medical care for infants born alive and creates criminal and civil accountability for failures to provide care, but it also raises criminal and civil risks, reporting duties, and administrative burdens that may reduce abortion access and discourage providers from offering care.
Newborn infants born alive after an attempted abortion are legally recognized and must be given immediate, equivalent professional medical care (including hospital admission), protecting their health and survival.
The bill creates criminal penalties for providers who intentionally kill or willfully fail to care for infants born alive, establishing stronger legal accountability for violent or negligent conduct.
Patients (including infants born alive) and hospitals/clinics have an explicit legal claim and clarified duty of care, reducing ambiguity about obligations to provide treatment.
Women (especially in underserved and rural areas) are likely to face reduced access to abortion and related care because providers may refuse services or adopt defensive practices to avoid legal risk.
Hospitals, clinics, and providers face substantially increased legal and financial risk — including civil exposure (treble/punitive damages) and criminal liability — which could lead to clinic closures, higher costs, and fewer providers offering care.
Mandatory reporting duties to law enforcement could expose confidential patient information and deter patients from seeking care or fully disclosing health information to clinicians.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Creates federal criminal and civil penalties and requires medical care and reporting for infants born alive after an abortion, and allows civil suits by the woman.
Official title: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
Introduced January 15, 2025 by James Lankford · Last progress January 15, 2025
Creates a federal crime and civil cause of action for failures to provide medical care to an infant who is born alive after an abortion or attempted abortion. It requires any health care practitioner present at the birth to provide the same degree of professional care to preserve the infant’s life and health as would be given to any other newborn at the same gestational age, requires immediate transport and hospital admission, mandates reporting to law enforcement for violations, and sets criminal penalties (including up to 5 years imprisonment and potential felony murder treatment for intentional killing) and statutory/civil damages for affected women. The law takes effect one day after enactment.