Sponsors (13)
The bill increases federal oversight, transparency, and a limited patient option to take fetal tissue while imposing strict disposal rules, reporting, and penalties that risk privacy harms, added costs, and reduced access to abortion services.
Women seeking abortion care are given a clear option to take physical possession of fetal tissue for personal disposition, respecting some patients' cultural or religious preferences.
HHS will publish state-by-state data on procedure types and disposal methods, increasing federal transparency about post-abortion practices and enabling better oversight and public information.
A defined 7-day timeline for disposition standardizes handling of fetal tissue and can reduce storage time and logistical burdens for providers and health facilities.
Abortion providers face criminal penalties (up to 5 years) and large civil fines ($50,000) for documentation or disposal errors, increasing the risk of clinic closures or reduced local access to care.
Mandatory reporting of abortions, gestational age, and disposal outcomes to HHS raises patient privacy concerns and could deter people from seeking care, particularly vulnerable patients.
Federal disposal standards combined with criminalization and reporting requirements may conflict with clinical judgment, impose administrative burdens on providers, and increase costs for clinics and taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Mandates written patient consent options for fetal tissue, requires provider interment/cremation within 7 days if accepted, creates reporting and penalties for providers.
Official title: Protect the dignity of fetal remains, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 24, 2025 by John Peter Ricketts · Last progress January 24, 2025
Requires abortion providers to offer patients an informed-consent choice to take possession of fetal tissue or release it to the provider, and mandates that providers who accept tissue must inter or cremate remains consistent with State law within seven days. The law creates new federal reporting and recordkeeping rules, civil and criminal penalties for provider noncompliance, and annual public reporting by HHS on procedures and disposal methods.