Forced Abortion Prevention and Accountability Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill adds a new section 1532 to title 18. It makes it a federal offense, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, to knowingly and intentionally administer an abortion-inducing drug to a pregnant woman without her informed consent. The base offense carries a fine, imprisonment of up to 25 years, or both. Attempts and conspiracies receive the same penalties. If the nonconsensual administration causes serious bodily injury or death, the offender can receive up to 25 additional years. The bill creates a civil action for the woman against a person who administered, attempted, or conspired to administer the drug, with objectively verifiable money damages, statutory damages equal to three times injury costs, punitive damages, and attorney fees for a prevailing plaintiff. A prevailing defendant can receive attorney fees if the court finds the suit frivolous. The bill defines abortion, abortion-inducing drug including mifepristone and misoprostol, informed consent, serious bodily injury, unborn child, and conspiracy, including selling, shipping, mailing, or giving the drug without reasonable measures to verify that the requester is a pregnant woman seeking an abortion.
Who Benefits and How
Pregnant patients benefit from federal criminal protection against nonconsensual administration of abortion-inducing drugs and from a private civil remedy for damages. Federal prosecutors gain an explicit offense covering attempts and conspiracies. Courts gain a defined damages framework for civil claims by affected women.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Clinicians administering abortion-inducing drugs without informed consent, drug shippers that distribute pills without reasonable verification, and other offenders face criminal penalties, civil damages, punitive damages, and attorney-fee exposure. Federal courts must handle new criminal charges and civil suits. Attorneys may litigate civil claims and fee disputes under the new remedy.
Key Provisions
- Creates a federal offense for knowingly administering abortion-inducing drugs without informed consent.
- Provides up to 25 years imprisonment for the base offense and the same penalties for attempts or conspiracies.
- Adds up to 25 extra years when the offense causes serious bodily injury or death.
- Creates a civil remedy with money damages, triple statutory damages, punitive damages, and attorney fees.
- Defines abortion-inducing drug to include mifepristone and misoprostol and defines conspiracy to include distribution without reasonable verification.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Creates a federal crime for knowingly administering an abortion-inducing drug to a pregnant woman without informed consent, adds penalties for attempts, conspiracies, serious injury, or death, and gives the woman a civil damages remedy with attorney-fee rules.
Key Policy Areas
Healthcare, Criminal Justice, Civil Litigation
Primary Purpose
Creates a federal crime for knowingly administering an abortion-inducing drug to a pregnant woman without informed consent, adds penalties for attempts, conspiracies, serious injury, or death, and gives the woman a civil damages remedy with attorney-fee rules.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Pregnant patients
- Federal prosecutors
- Courts handling civil claims
Identified Costs
- Clinicians administering abortion-inducing drugs
- Drug shippers
- Federal courts
- Attorneys litigating civil claims
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Messmer (for himself, Mr. Crane, Mr. Stutzman, Ms. Hageman, …
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Clinicians administering drugs without informed consent, Pregnant patients protected from nonconsensual abortion drugs
Positive-direction: Pregnant patients protected from nonconsensual abortion drugs
Negative-direction: Clinicians administering drugs without informed consent
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology