Sponsors (19)
Creates a federal crime for providing chemical abortion in or affecting interstate commerce unless the provider examines the patient in person, is physically present, and supplies a catch kit and waste-return instructions.
The bill increases in-person oversight and medical-waste safeguards for chemical abortion care but does so by restricting telemedicine and imposing broad criminal definitions that are likely to reduce access, raise costs, create provider uncertainty, and prompt more federal enforcement.
Women who receive chemical abortion care will have in-person physical exams and an in-person provider present during care.
Health-care providers must supply biohazard disposal kits, reducing the risk of improper medical-waste disposal by clinics and patients.
Women — especially in rural and underserved communities — will face reduced access to medication abortion previously available via telemedicine, making care harder or impossible to obtain locally.
Patients, particularly low-income and rural individuals, will incur higher travel costs, time burdens, and logistical barriers because care that could be delivered remotely will require in-person visits.
Clinicians may be deterred from offering abortion-related services by criminal penalties, shrinking provider networks and causing longer delays in care.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Official title: To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a chemical abortion without the physical presence of a healthcare provider.
Introduced March 18, 2026 by Mary E. Miller · Last progress March 18, 2026
Creates a new federal criminal offense for providing or attempting to provide a “chemical abortion” in or affecting interstate commerce unless the provider (1) physically examines the patient, (2) is physically present where the chemical abortion occurs, and (3) supplies a ‘‘catch kit’’ and designated medical-waste container with instructions for return. Defines key terms including specific drugs (mifepristone, misoprostol and listed brand names) and updates Title 18’s table of sections to add the new offense.