New bill would ban medication abortions: What's in HR 629?
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — A new bill has been introduced into United States Legislature that would prohibit the use of medication abortions in the country.
Republican House Representative Andrew Ogles introduced House Resolution 629 on January 22, 2025 to the 119th Congress. HR 629 is titled as: To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit chemical abortions, and for other purposes.
New bill seeks to protect 'preborn life'
The bill states that the medications used in medication or chemical abortions is unsafe. The bill states that various research from 2000 until 2021 from the Food and Drug Administration. The bill claims that mifepristone and misoprostol is used in over 50 percent of all induced abortions in the country, according to a 2000 study by the FDA.
According to the bill, lawmakers would like to add the term 'abortion crimes' to Chapter 74 of Title 18 of United States Code.
By updating this code, lawmakers seek to prohibit doctors from prescribing, dispensing, distributing, or selling any drug got the purpose of procuring or performing an abortion on any woman. The bill states that the doctor can be imprisoned for no more than 25 years, fined, or both.
Republican representatives introduce bill targeting women's healthcare
According to the bill, there are only three exceptions to the proposed bill. The first exception says that the sale, use, or prescription of any contraceptive agent administered before conception or before pregnancy can be determined through conventional testing.
The second exception is for the treatment of a miscarriage according to medical guidelines as accepted as of the date of the miscarriage.
The third exception is in the case where a woman experiences a medical emergency that is caused by or arises from the pregnancy itself, that would, as certified by a physician, place the woman in danger of death.
The bill does say that a woman who receives a chemical abortion or attempts to receive a chemical abortion may not be criminally prosecuted.
The full bill is not yet available on Congress.gov, but was made available through Rep. Ogles press release regarding the introduction of the bill.
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