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Creates a new federal crime for using the mail or interstate commerce to persuade, induce, entice, or coerce an adult who has certain cognitive or neurological impairments to send an intimate image when done with intent to harm. The measure defines who counts as a protected adult and what constitutes harm, sets criminal penalties (up to 1 year in prison for a first offense and up to 2 years for repeat offenses), and adds the new offense to the federal criminal code table of sections. It also includes a short-title provision.
The bill extends federal protections and criminal penalties to adults with certain cognitive or neurological impairments coerced into sharing intimate images, giving victims more federal options, but its interstate-jurisdiction requirements, modest penalties, diagnosis-based eligibility, and likely—
Adults with cognitive or neurological impairments (and victims of sexual exploitation) gain a new federal prohibition and criminal remedy against being coerced to send intimate images through the mail or interstate commerce, expanding avenues for prosecution across state lines.
Victims benefit from federal criminal penalties (fines and imprisonment) and a broadly defined concept of "harm" (physical, psychological, financial, reputational), allowing prosecutors to address a wider range of harms survivors experience.
The statute uses clear clinical criteria (DSM/ICD-based) to define who is a "protected adult," improving legal consistency and guidance for courts and practitioners about who qualifies for protection.
Many victims may still lack federal recourse because prosecutors must prove use of interstate commerce and the defendant's intent to harm, raising the bar for federal prosecution and leaving many intrastate cases to state systems.
Penalties are limited (maximum roughly one year for a first offense, two years for repeat offenses), which may provide insufficient deterrence and inadequate accountability for serious exploitation.
Defining protected status by a specified list of clinical diagnoses risks excluding vulnerable adults whose impairments don't match those listed, leaving some cognitively vulnerable people without these federal protections.
Introduced February 25, 2026 by Haley Stevens · Last progress February 25, 2026