Sponsors (19)
The bill increases in-person clinical oversight and standardizes biohazard waste handling but does so by imposing criminal penalties and broad definitions that are likely to restrict abortion access, chill reproductive health practice, create legal uncertainty for drug supply chains, and raise federal enforcement costs.
Patients (people seeking chemical abortion) will be required to receive an in-person exam before medication administration, creating a federal oversight step intended to increase clinical assessment and immediate medical response when needed.
Healthcare workers and facilities will have a single federal standard for handling biohazardous waste (e.g., catch kit/red bag), reducing ambiguity about safe disposal and lowering risks from improper handling.
Women and abortion providers will face criminal penalties and practical barriers that reduce access to chemical abortion: the in-person presence requirement and criminal liability for providers will likely cause many clinicians to stop offering care, disproportionately harming patients in rural areas and increasing travel, delay, and cost burdens.
Healthcare providers and patients will face broader chilling effects because the bill defines 'abortion' from fertilization, creating risk that a wide range of reproductive health care could be criminalized or avoided by clinicians.
Manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies handling the listed drugs will face legal uncertainty and potential criminal exposure, threatening supply chains and consistent access to medications used in reproductive and other care.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a federal crime banning provision of chemical abortions unless the provider examines the patient in person, is physically present during the abortion, and provides a returnable catch kit and medical-waste bag.
Introduced March 18, 2026 by Mary E. Miller · Last progress March 18, 2026
Creates a new federal crime to prohibit providing or attempting to provide an abortion using a chemical abortion drug unless certain in-person requirements are met. The law requires the provider to physically examine the patient, be physically present at the site where the drug is used, and give the patient a "catch kit" and "red bag" medical waste bag with instructions to return them to the provider for disposal; it also defines key terms related to chemical abortion drugs and medical waste. A separate provision simply establishes a short title for the statute.