Sponsors (18)
Creates a federal criminal ban on "dismemberment abortions," imposes penalties on physicians, and establishes private civil damages and definitions beginning fetal life at fertilization.
The bill creates federal criminal and civil enforcement focused on specified abortion techniques—protecting recipients from criminal charges and enabling monetary recovery for victims while imposing criminal penalties and large civil liabilities on providers that are likely to reduce availability of certain second‑trimester abortion care and increase legal conflict.
Women who undergo the defined 'dismemberment' procedures are protected from criminal prosecution under this law.
Women and some parents of minors can sue to recover compensatory damages, statutory (triple-cost) damages, punitive damages, and attorney fees when a prohibited procedure is performed, creating a private enforcement avenue for victims.
Healthcare workers and providers could be deterred from performing the specified procedures across state lines due to the federal criminal prohibition, reducing interstate provision of those techniques.
Physicians and other abortion providers face new federal criminal penalties (up to 2 years) for performing certain procedures, increasing legal risk and potential criminalization of medical care.
Women and clinicians may have second‑trimester abortion options criminalized or chilled because the bill defines 'unborn child' from fertilization and tightly restricts specific techniques, complicating clinical decision‑making and potentially harming patient care.
Providers (and clinics) face substantial new civil liability exposure including triple-cost statutory damages and potential punitive awards, raising malpractice and defense costs, which could reduce abortion access or raise prices for patients.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Official title: To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit dismemberment abortions, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 30, 2026 by Kat Cammack · Last progress April 30, 2026
Prohibits a specific abortion method called "dismemberment abortion" under a new federal criminal statute, making physicians who knowingly perform that procedure subject to fines and up to two years in prison, while providing a life-of-the-mother exception for physical health conditions. The bill also creates private civil causes of action that let the pregnant person (and in some cases parents of minors) recover damages, statutory triple damages equal to three times the abortion cost, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees; it grants the pregnant person immunity from criminal prosecution under this law and narrowly limits monetary awards against her. The measure defines key terms (including defining an "unborn child" as beginning at fertilization), adds the new offense into federal criminal code, and includes fee-shifting rules and civil remedies intended to allow private enforcement alongside federal criminal penalties. It is likely to prompt constitutional and statutory litigation about federal authority over abortion and related rights.