Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
Official title: To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.
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Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice.
Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
This bill amends the federal criminal code to require any health care practitioner who is present when a child is born alive following an abortion or attempted abortion to: (1) exercise the same degree of care as reasonably provided to any other child born alive at the same gestational age, and (2) ensure that such child is immediately admitted to a hospital. The term "born alive" means the complete expulsion or extraction from his or her mother, at any stage of development, who after such expulsion or extraction breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut.
Also, a health care practitioner or other employee who has knowledge of a failure to comply with these requirements must immediately report such failure to an appropriate law enforcement agency.
An individual who violates the provisions of this bill is subject to a criminal fine, up to five years in prison, or both.
An individual who commits an overt act that kills a child born alive is subject to criminal prosecution for murder.
The bill bars the criminal prosecution of a mother of a child born alive for conspiracy to violate these provisions, for being an accessory after the fact, or for concealment of felony.
A woman who undergoes an abortion or attempted abortion may file a civil action for damages against an individual who violates this bill.
- Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 37: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. 115th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/115-HR-37/
"H.R. 37: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act." 115th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/115-HR-37/.
H.R. 37, 115th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/115-HR-37/.
[H.R. 37: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/115-HR-37/)