H.R. 7237 — Chemical Abortion Risk Awareness Act

This section establishes Title XXXIV of the Public Health Service Act concerning chemical abortion risk awareness, defining "chemical abortion" (i.e., use or prescription of an abortion-inducing drug to cause death of the unborn child, excluding procedures to save the mother's life or treat ectopic/molar pregnancy or miscarriage), "chemical abortion provider," "unborn child," and "woman" (i.e., human with XX chromosomes). Effective 30 days after enactment, it requires any chemical abortion provider receiving federal funds (or working for an entity that does) to, at least 24 hours before the procedure, provide the woman with the full FDA-approved product label for each abortion-inducing drug (highlighting "Warnings and Precautions" and "Adverse Reactions" sections), read those sections aloud, and obtain her written confirmation; such providers (or their entities) must also submit an implementation plan to the Secretary within 30 days of enactment. It authorizes the Secretary to withhold federal funding from noncompliant providers or their entities and creates a private right of action for affected women or their parents against violating providers, allowing compensatory damages, statutory damages (three times the abortion cost), punitive damages, and attorney's fees for prevailing plaintiffs (and for prevailing defendants if the suit is frivolous), with no awards against the woman except defendant's fees for frivolous suits.

This section specifies that nothing in the Act or its amendments preempts state laws that establish, implement, or continue disclosure requirements regarding abortion or penalties for noncompliance that are more extensive than those provided under the Act.

This section includes a severability clause, providing that if any provision of the Act or its amendments, or any application thereof, is held unconstitutional, the remainder of the Act and its amendments, and their applications, shall not be affected.