House Committee Approves Prenatal Nondiscrimination Bill

On February 16, the House Judiciary Committee approved, 20-13, the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (H.R. 3541). The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution held a hearing on the bill in December (see The Source, 12/9/11).

The act, sponsored by Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), would impose criminal penalties on anyone who knowingly attempts to perform an abortion on the basis of the sex, gender, color, or race of the child, or the race of the parent. It also would deem it unlawful to use force, or the threat of force, to intentionally injure or intimidate any person in order to coerce such an abortion, solicit or accept funds for the performance of such an abortion, or transport a woman into the United States or across a state line in order to obtain such an abortion. Health care providers or organizations that violate the law could be fined, imprisoned for up to five years, or lose access to federal funding.

This legislation would authorize civil remedies for women who have been intimidated by force or threats into having an abortion based on sex or race, fathers of unborn children who have been aborted on the basis of sex or race, and maternal grandparents if the mother subjected to such an abortion is a minor. However, the act would prohibit a woman who has had such an abortion from being prosecuted or held civilly liable.

Medical or mental health professionals would be required to report known or suspected violations of the law to law enforcement authorities; failure to do so would result in criminal penalties.

During consideration of the bill, the committee adopted the following amendments:

• An amendment by Rep. Franks to require that the courts take steps to protect the anonymity of a woman who has had an abortion during a civil or criminal action brought under the bill, by voice vote.
• An amendment by Rep. Franks to demonstrate the medical community’s opposition to sex-selection abortion by including statements from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and American Society for Reproductive Medicine Ethics Committee Opinions, by voice vote.
• An amendment by Rep. Franks that would ensure that a woman would be able to take civil action against a person who engaged in a violation of any part of this bill and that the woman would obtain appropriate relief, 12-10.
• An amendment by Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI) to strike the names Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas from the bill’s title, 24-1.

Speaking in support of the bill, Rep. Franks said: “In so many ways, we have made great progress in the area of civil rights in this country, but there is one glaring exception. We have overlooked unborn children and that life itself is the most foundational of all civil rights. The result is that in America today, between 40 and 50 percent of all African American babies, nearly one in two, are killed before they are born, which is a greater cause of death for African Americans than heart disease, cancer, diabetes, AIDS, and violence combined. [T]his is the civil rights battle that will define our generation. And can we not at least agree as Americans that it is wrong to knowingly kill unborn children because they are the wrong color or because they are baby girls instead of baby boys?”

Speaking in opposition to the bill, Rep. Conyers stated, “[T]his bill will make it more difficult for women of color to obtain the basic reproductive health care services that should be available to all women without reference to race. And by threatening health care professionals with prison time and lawsuits, it is inevitable that they will be reluctant to treat some patients — Asians, Pacific Islanders, African Americans, interracial couples — where someone might suspect that race or sex selection may be a factor in the patient’s decision.”