Federal law makes abortion providers liable for punitive damages and 3x costs

What it does

This bill makes it a federal crime for health care practitioners to fail to provide the same standard of medical care to a child born alive after an abortion as they would to any other newborn, and requires immediate hospital admission. It also creates criminal penalties (up to 5 years imprisonment), mandatory reporting requirements for medical staff, and civil remedies allowing the woman to sue for damages including punitive damages and attorney fees. The mother herself cannot be prosecuted.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is a federal duty-of-care standard for health care practitioners attending live births after abortion, backed by criminal and civil penalties. While framed as protecting infants, the civil liability structure (punitive damages, 3x statutory damages, attorney fees) is the bill's most consequential feature and reflects a hybrid public-safety / private-enforcement model.

What the text implies

• The civil remedy structure (punitive damages + 3x statutory damages + attorney fees) creates a private enforcement mechanism that may incentivize litigation against abortion providers and clinics, effectively deputizing women as enforcers of the federal standard and potentially chilling abortion access through litigation risk rather than direct prohibition.
• Mandatory reporting by all hospital and clinic employees creates a broad surveillance and reporting obligation that may deter some medical professionals from working in abortion-related settings or create workplace tension in mixed-service facilities.
• The bill's definition of 'attempt' (conduct constituting a substantial step toward abortion) is broad and may create prosecutorial discretion to charge medical professionals with federal crimes for conduct that falls short of completed abortion but is deemed a substantial step.
• The bar on prosecuting the mother creates asymmetric liability: the woman is shielded from criminal and conspiracy charges, but the provider faces both criminal and civil exposure, potentially creating pressure on providers to settle civil claims regardless of merit.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The bill establishes a federal duty of care for infants born alive after abortion, which protects a vulnerable population from medical neglect — a genuine public safety measure. However, the civil liability structure (allowing the woman to sue for punitive damages and 3x the abortion cost) creates a financial incentive to litigate that may chill access to abortion services and creates asymmetric legal exposure for abortion providers, shifting enforcement partly to private litigation rather than

Who stands to gain

• medical malpractice attorneys (civil litigation)
• plaintiff's bar (contingency-fee litigation)

Named in the bill

U.S. Congress, Department of Justice, State law enforcement agencies, Health care practitioners, Hospitals, Abortion clinics, Physician offices

Where it stands

163 cosponsors: 163 Republicans.

• Jan 3, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Jan 3, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary and Senate Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
• Jan 23, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 217 - 204, 1 Present (Roll no. 27). (text: CR H335-336)”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

5 lobbying clients named this bill on 7 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Mar 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $2,437,329 in lobbying spend. A filing names 48 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 78% of bills with at least one filing.

Ann Wagner, the sponsor, reported $1,224,750 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• American Academy of Family Physicians — $1,715,904 on 2 filings
• American Psychiatric Association — $391,974 on 1 filing
• Service Employees International Union Ctw-clc — $286,000 on 1 filing
• Power to Decide — $33,451 on 2 filings
• National Council of Jewish Women — $10,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.