Sponsors (51)
The bill strengthens legal protections and required medical care for infants born alive after attempted abortions and adds accountability for providers, but it also significantly raises legal, financial, and reporting risks for clinicians and facilities in ways that may reduce access to abortion and related care.
Newborn infants born alive after an attempted abortion are legally recognized and must receive the same degree of professional care and immediate hospital admission as other infants of the same gestational age.
Women who undergo an abortion gain a private civil remedy if a practitioner fails to provide required care to an infant born alive, including potential damages and attorney’s fees.
The bill creates criminal penalties for providers who intentionally kill or deliberately fail to care for infants born alive, establishing clear legal accountability for violent or egregiously negligent conduct.
Women seeking abortions may face reduced access to abortion and related health services because providers may refuse care, practice defensive medicine, or avoid offering services to limit legal risk—disproportionately affecting rural and underserved communities.
Healthcare providers and clinics face substantially increased legal and financial exposure—criminal penalties, treble statutory damages, punitive awards, and new reporting duties—which could lead to costly litigation, higher insurance/compliance costs, and potential clinic closures.
Mandatory reporting to law enforcement and new duties may expose confidential patient information and deter patients from seeking care or from fully disclosing information to providers.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Imposes federal criminal duties and civil remedies requiring medical practitioners to care for and transfer infants born alive after abortions, with penalties for noncompliance.
Official title: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
Introduced January 15, 2025 by James Lankford · Last progress January 15, 2025
Requires health care practitioners present when a child is born alive after an abortion or attempted abortion to provide the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence as for any other newborn of the same gestational age and to ensure immediate transport and admission to a hospital. Establishes criminal penalties (fines and imprisonment up to five years) and civil remedies for violations, protects mothers from prosecution under the statute, and mandates reporting to state or federal law enforcement for failure to comply. Creates a new federal criminal and civil statute defining covered terms, authorizes triple damages and attorney fees for prevailing plaintiffs (and fee-shifting for frivolous suits), applies felony-murder penalties for intentional killing or attempted killing of a child born alive, and takes effect one day after enactment.