Repealing 18 U.S.C. § 248 reduces federal prosecutions and clarifies the U.S. Code—benefiting defendants, DOJ efficiency, and legal clarity—but does so at the cost of diminished federal protections for victims, potential local safety impacts, and shifted enforcement burdens to state and local authorities.
Defendants previously charged under 18 U.S.C. § 248 will have those federal prosecutions dismissed or no longer pursued, reducing their criminal exposure and potential federal penalties.
The Department of Justice and federal prosecutors will face a reduced prosecutorial workload and resource use because one statutory offense is removed, allowing focus on higher-priority crimes.
Legal professionals, government contractors, and publishers will see a clearer U.S. Code and updated tables of sections, simplifying legal research and reducing confusion from an obsolete provision.
Victims of conduct that § 248 formerly criminalized may lose federal remedies and protections, reducing avenues for accountability and relief.
Local communities and local law enforcement may experience reduced deterrence for the prohibited conduct formerly covered by § 248, potentially increasing related harms or incidents.
State and local governments and prosecutors may face shifted enforcement burdens, legal uncertainty, and transitional costs as federal responsibility is removed or redistributed.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Repeals the federal criminal statute that barred force, threats, and obstruction of access to reproductive health services and certain places of worship, and applies the repeal to pending and future prosecutions.
Repeals a federal criminal law that made it a crime to use force, threats, or obstruction to interfere with a person’s ability to obtain reproductive health services or to access places of worship. The repeal also removes the law from the federal criminal code and applies to any federal prosecution pending on or started on or after the date the repeal becomes law, effectively ending federal enforcement under that statute going forward.
Introduced January 21, 2025 by Charles Roy · Last progress January 21, 2025