Section 1 Legislative findings and declaration of constitutional authority for enactment
Findings— Congress finds the following:
The dignity of every human life is reflected in our Nation’s founding principles, “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”.
Abortion ends the life of a person entitled to rights under the Constitution and the laws of this Nation. Since the 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade, over 60,000,000 abortions have ended the lives of unborn children. Unborn children are among the most vulnerable and deserve full and equal protection of the law.
Congress exercised its authority under the Commerce Clause when it enacted the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 and has used that authority to enact other criminal statutes, such as the prohibition on female genital mutilation (18 U.S.C. 116).
The Supreme Court has broadly interpreted Congress’ power to regulate interstate commerce, holding that it applies to activities with a substantial economic effect or that, cumulatively, affect commerce. See, e.g., NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U.S. 1 (1937); United States v. Darby, 312 U.S. 657 (1941); and Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942).
Abortion often involves commercial activity between states and across foreign borders. This includes the manufacturing and distribution of drugs that cause abortion and the use of equipment, instruments, and other supplies that have traveled in interstate commerce to perform surgical abortions. See, e.g., Scarborough v. United States, 431 U.S. 563 (1977).
Article I, section 8, clause 1 of the Constitution grants Congress broad spending powers, which Congress may attach conditions to: “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States”. Furthermore, in clause 18 Congress can “make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Executive the foregoing Powers …”. The Supreme Court has upheld this generally in cases like South Dakota v. Dole and in regard to abortion in Harris v. McRae.
Through the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, handed down in June 2022, the Supreme Court has redressed and corrected the grave injustice which for 50 years had been perpetuated by their decisions in Roe v. Wade, Doe v. Bolton, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, allowing Congress and State legislators to enact legislation to limit abortion as the legislators see fit. The Court declared that “the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion” (Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Org., 142 S. Ct. 2228, 2234 (2022)).
The Supreme Court has held that “[i]t is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives” (Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 142 S. Ct. 2228, 2243 (2022)).
The Supreme Court has also held that “[a] law regulating abortion, like other health and welfare laws, is entitled to a “strong presumption of validity.” . . . It must be sustained if there is a rational basis on which the legislature could have thought that it would serve legitimate State interests . . . These legitimate interests include respect for and preservation of prenatal life at all stages of development . . . ; the protection of maternal health and safety; the elimination of particularly gruesome or barbaric medical procedures; the preservation of the integrity of the medical profession; the mitigation of fetal pain; and the prevention of discrimination on the basis of race, sex, or disability.” (Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 142 S. Ct. at 2239).
Medical and other authorities now know more about human prenatal development than ever before, including that life begins at the moment of conception and the child in a woman's womb is a human being.
Even if there exists some degree of uncertainty about an aspect of prenatal development, the Supreme Court has held that Congress and State legislatures retain “wide discretion to pass legislation” (Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. at 163). “The law need not give abortion doctors unfettered choice in the course of their medical practice, nor should it elevate their status above other physicians in the medical community” (Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. at 163). “Medical uncertainty does not foreclose the exercise of legislative power in the abortion context any more than it does in other contexts” (Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. at 164).
Scientific evidence and personal testimonies document the massive harm that abortion causes to women. Abortion heightens the risk of mental health issues with studies showing that after an abortion women are 34 percent more likely to develop anxiety disorders, 37 percent more likely to develop depression, 110 percent more likely to rely on alcohol use or abuse, 115 percent more likely to develop suicidal behavior, and 220 percent more likely to take on marijuana use or abuse. As many as 60 percent of women having an abortion experience some level of emotional distress afterwards, with 30 percent being classified as severe distress. Abortion also includes risks to physical health such as heavy or persistent bleeding, damage to cervix, abdominal pain or cramping, scarring of uterine lining, breast cancer, future premature births or miscarriages, infection or sepsis, placenta previa, perforation of uterus, damage to other organs, and even death.
More than 50 percent of abortions nationwide are committed by chemical abortion. Many of these abortions are obtained through telehealth visits and without the supervision of a licensed medical care professional.
Every State has enacted a “safe haven” law, relieving the responsibility of childcare for parents who do not wish to care for a child.
Public attitudes favoring adoption have created a culture of adoption in the United States, with many families waiting long periods of time to adopt newborn infants.
Abortion disproportionately affects minority communities. Black babies are 3.4 times more likely to be aborted as White babies. An estimated 19,000,000 Black babies have been killed by abortion since 1973. Minorities have been the unwitting victims of a hidden racist agenda of the abortion industry for over 50 years.
Purpose— It is the intent of this Act to ensure that abortion is abolished and to protect the lives of unborn children.