Federal law criminalizes remote medication abortion, requiring in-person clinic visits
H.R. 729 — Teleabortion Prevention Act of 2025 · Filed by Mark Harris (R-NC) · 18 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 24, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill creates a federal criminal offense for healthcare providers who prescribe or dispense medication abortion drugs without physically examining the patient, being physically present during the abortion, and scheduling a follow-up visit within 14 days. Patients themselves cannot be prosecuted. The bill does not apply to abortions necessary to save a pregnant person's life. Healthcare providers who violate the law face fines up to $1,000 and up to 2 years imprisonment.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a criminal prohibition on remote medication abortion provision by healthcare providers. While titled as a safety measure ('Teleabortion Prevention'), its functional effect is to restrict a legal medical procedure by imposing in-person and follow-up requirements that do not track clinical evidence for safety.
What the text implies
- The 14-day follow-up requirement may conflict with FDA-approved medication abortion protocols, which do not mandate in-person follow-up at that interval for all patients.
- The bill's definition of 'healthcare provider' as 'any person licensed to prescribe prescription drugs' is broad and may capture nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other licensed prescribers depending on state law, expanding the scope of criminal liability.
- The 'physically present at the location' requirement effectively prohibits telemedicine abortion provision even in states where it is legal and regulated, creating a federal floor that overrides state law permitting remote care.
- The life-of-the-mother exception uses narrow language ('physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury') that may exclude mental-health-based life-endangerment claims recognized in some state laws and medical ethics frameworks.
- Criminal penalties for providers may deter prescribing even in compliant scenarios, creating a chilling effect on medication abortion access beyond the bill's literal scope.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill restricts access to medication abortion by imposing in-person requirements and follow-up scheduling, reducing the availability and convenience of a legal medical procedure for pregnant people. While framed as a safety measure, the restrictions operate as a practical barrier to access independent of clinical necessity, particularly for people in rural areas, those with transportation constraints, or those seeking privacy.
Named in the bill
Healthcare providers (licensed prescribers), Patients seeking medication abortion, FDA (medication abortion regulation), State medical boards, 18 U.S.C. Chapter 74 (Abortions)
Where it stands
18 cosponsors: 18 Republicans.
- Jan 24, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 24, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
3 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $430,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 3 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 61% of bills with at least one filing.
Mark Harris, the sponsor, reported $190,505 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Susan B Anthony List — $420,000 on 1 filing
- Human Coalition — $10,000 on 1 filing
- Human Coalition Action — $0 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.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,871 characters) on Aug 31, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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