HR589-119

What This Bill Does

The FACE Act Repeal Act would repeal 18 U.S.C. 248 and its chapter-table entry. That statute addresses force, threats, physical obstruction and property damage targeting reproductive health services or places of religious worship; reproductive health services include more than abortion. Repeal would apply expressly to prosecutions pending on enactment or commenced afterward. The Judiciary Committee substitute reviewed for this analysis leaves the operative repeal unchanged and removes only "of 2025" from the short title. Only introduced text is formally published.

Who Benefits and How

Persons exposed to prosecution under section 248 would lose that particular basis for federal criminal liability, including in pending cases covered by the express applicability clause. Persons whose future conduct would otherwise create FACE Act civil liability would also lose exposure to that statute's injunctions, damages and civil penalties. This is legal relief from a specific enforcement regime, not a finding that the conduct is harmless or protected speech. The existing statute already excludes constitutionally protected peaceful expression, and repeal does not immunize conduct under other federal, state or local laws.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Reproductive health patients, providers and facility operators would lose a dedicated federal remedy against covered interference and property damage. Worshippers and organizations operating places of religious worship would lose the corresponding protections. The Department of Justice would lose this prosecution and civil-enforcement authority, while state attorneys general would lose the civil cause of action conferred by section 248, not their separate state-law powers. These are losses of enforcement options; the bill itself does not establish how frequently violence or obstruction would occur. Its pending-case language addresses prosecutions, not expressly all accrued civil liabilities or final judgments, so it should not be read as automatically vacating every conviction, refunding penalties or cancelling every existing civil claim.

Key Provisions

• Repeals section 248 in full, including its criminal penalties and private, federal and state-attorney-general civil remedies.
• Requires the repeal to apply to prosecutions pending at enactment and prosecutions begun afterward.
• Removes the section 248 entry from the chapter 13 table of sections.
• Provides no repeal of other criminal laws, abortion restrictions or constitutional protections for expression and worship.