S. 6 — Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

This section sets forth congressional findings that an infant born alive after an abortion is a legal person entitled to all protections under federal law and holds the same claim to legal protection as any other newborn or patient receiving care at a hospital, clinic, or other facility.

This section establishes requirements for health care practitioners present at the birth of a child born alive following an abortion or attempted abortion. Practitioners must exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as would be rendered to any other child born alive at the same gestational age and must immediately transport and admit the child to a hospital. Any practitioner or hospital, physician’s office, or abortion clinic employee with knowledge of a violation must immediately report it to an appropriate State or Federal law enforcement agency. Violators are subject to a fine, imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or both; anyone who intentionally kills or attempts to kill such a child is punished under 18 U.S.C. § 1111. The mother may not be prosecuted under this section. A woman on whom the abortion was performed may bring a civil action for objectively verifiable damages, statutory damages equal to three times the cost of the abortion or attempted abortion, and punitive damages, with the court awarding reasonable attorney’s fees to a prevailing plaintiff (or to a prevailing defendant if the suit is found frivolous). The section also makes conforming amendments that retitle chapter 74 of title 18, United States Code, from “Partial-Birth Abortions” to “Abortions.”