Dismemberment Abortion Ban Act of 2026

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4880 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4880

   To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit dismemberment
                   abortions, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 24, 2026

  Mr. Rounds (for himself, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Mr. Budd, Mr. Risch, Mr.
Daines, Mr. Banks, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Hawley,
and Mrs. Blackburn) introduced the following bill; which was read twice
             and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

   To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit dismemberment
                   abortions, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Dismemberment Abortion Ban Act of
2026''.

SEC. 2. DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION BAN.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 74 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended by inserting after section 1531 the following:
``Sec. 1532. Dismemberment abortion ban
    ``(a) Dismemberment Abortion Prohibited.--
            ``(1) In general.--Any physician who, in or affecting
        interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly performs a
        dismemberment abortion and thereby kills an unborn child shall
        be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 2 years,
        or both.
            ``(2) Exception.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a
        dismemberment abortion that is necessary to save the life of a
        mother whose life is endangered by a physical disorder,
        physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-
        endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the
        pregnancy itself.
    ``(b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed to limit abortions performed for any reason, including when
the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest, if performed by a method
other than dismemberment abortion.
    ``(c) Civil Remedies.--
            ``(1) Civil action by a woman on whom an abortion is
        performed.--A woman upon whom an abortion has been performed in
        violation of subsection (a) may, in a civil action against any
        person who committed the violation, obtain appropriate relief.
            ``(2) Civil action by a parent of a minor on whom an
        abortion is performed.--A parent of a minor upon whom an
        abortion has been performed in violation of subsection (a) may,
        in a civil action against any person who committed the
        violation, obtain appropriate relief, unless the pregnancy
        resulted from the plaintiff's criminal conduct.
            ``(3) Appropriate relief.--Appropriate relief in a civil
        action under this subsection includes--
                    ``(A) objectively verifiable money damages for all
                injuries, psychological and physical, occasioned by the
                violation;
                    ``(B) statutory damages equal to 3 times the cost
                of the abortion; and
                    ``(C) punitive damages.
            ``(4) Attorney's fees for plaintiff.--The court shall award
        a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs to a
        prevailing plaintiff in a civil action under this subsection.
            ``(5) Attorney's fees for defendant.--If a defendant in a
        civil action under this subsection prevails and the court finds
        that the plaintiff's suit was frivolous, the court shall award
        a reasonable attorney's fee in favor of the defendant against
        the plaintiff.
            ``(6) Awards against woman.--Except as provided in
        paragraph (5), in a civil action under this subsection, no
        damages, attorney's fee, or other monetary relief may be
        assessed against the woman upon whom the abortion was performed
        or attempted.
    ``(d) Immunity From Prosecution for Woman Upon Whom a Dismemberment
Abortion Is Performed.--A woman upon whom a dismemberment abortion is
performed may not be prosecuted under this section, for a conspiracy to
violate this section, or for an offense under section 2, 3, or 4 of
this title based on a violation of this section.
    ``(e) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Abortion.--The term `abortion' means the use or
        prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other
        substance or device--
                    ``(A) to intentionally kill the unborn child of a
                woman known to be pregnant; or
                    ``(B) to intentionally terminate the pregnancy of a
                woman known to be pregnant, with an intention other
                than--
                            ``(i) after viability, to produce a live
                        birth and preserve the life and health of the
                        child born alive; or
                            ``(ii) to remove a dead unborn child.
            ``(2) Dismemberment abortion.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `dismemberment
                abortion' means, with the purpose of causing the death
                of an unborn child, knowingly dismembering an unborn
                child and extracting the unborn child one piece at a
                time or intact but crushed from the uterus through the
                use of clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors, or
                similar instruments that, through the convergence of 2
                rigid levers, slice, crush, or grasp a portion of the
                unborn child's body in order to cut or rip it off or
                crush it.
                    ``(B) Exclusions.--The term `dismemberment
                abortion' does not include--
                            ``(i) an abortion that uses suction to
                        dismember the body of the unborn child by
                        sucking fetal parts into a collection container
                        unless the actions described in subparagraph
                        (A) are used to cause the death of an unborn
                        child and suction is subsequently used to
                        extract fetal parts after the death of the
                        unborn child; or
                            ``(ii) a procedure to remove a deceased
                        unborn child--
                                    ``(I) whose death was the result of
                                a miscarriage or a medical emergency;
                                or
                                    ``(II) who otherwise died not as
                                the result of intervening action by a
                                physician to cause such death in
                                preparation for performing the actions
                                described in subparagraph (A).
            ``(3) Minor.--The term `minor' means an individual who has
        not attained the age of 18 years.
            ``(4) Physician.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `physician' means a
                doctor of medicine or osteopathy legally authorized to
                practice medicine and surgery by the State in which the
                doctor performs such activity, or any other individual
                legally authorized by the State to perform abortions.
                    ``(B) Liability of non-physicians.--Notwithstanding
                subparagraph (A), any individual who is not a physician
                or not otherwise legally authorized by the State to
                perform abortions but nevertheless directly performs an
                abortion prohibited under this section shall be subject
                to this section in the same manner as a physician.
            ``(5) Unborn child.--The term `unborn child' means an
        individual organism of the species homo sapiens, beginning at
        fertilization, until the point of being born alive as defined
        in section 8(b) of title 1.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of
chapter 74 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the
end the following:

``1532. Dismemberment abortion ban.''.
    (c) Chapter Heading Amendments.--
            (1) Chapter heading in chapter.--The chapter heading for
        chapter 74 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by
        striking ``PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTIONS'' and inserting
        ``ABORTIONS''.
            (2) Table of chapters for part i.--The item relating to
        chapter 74 in the table of chapters at the beginning of part I
        of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking
        ``Partial-birth abortions'' and inserting ``Abortions''.
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