[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 636 Engrossed in Senate (ES)]

103d CONGRESS

  1st Session

                                 S. 636

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

 To amend the Public Health Service Act to permit individuals to have 
 freedom of access to certain medical clinics and facilities, and for 
                            other purposes.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 636

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
 To amend the Public Health Service Act to permit individuals to have 
 freedom of access to certain medical clinics and facilities, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Freedom of Access to Clinic 
Entrances Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL STATEMENT OF FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) medical clinics and other facilities throughout the 
        Nation offering abortion-related services have been targeted in 
        recent years by an interstate campaign of violence and 
        obstruction aimed at closing the facilities or physically 
        blocking ingress to them, and intimidating those seeking to 
        obtain or provide abortion-related services;
            (2) as a result of such conduct, women are being denied 
        access to, and health care providers are being prevented from 
        delivering, vital reproductive health services;
            (3) such conduct subjects women to increased medical risks 
        and thereby jeopardizes the public health and safety;
            (4) the methods used to deny women access to these services 
        include blockades of facility entrances; invasions and 
        occupations of the premises; vandalism and destruction of 
        property in and around the facility; bombings, arson, and 
        murder; and other acts of force and threats of force;
            (5) those engaging in such tactics frequently trample 
        police lines and barricades and overwhelm State and local law 
        enforcement authorities and courts and their ability to 
        restrain and enjoin unlawful conduct and prosecute those who 
        have violated the law;
            (6) this problem is national in scope, and because of its 
        magnitude and interstate nature exceeds the ability of any 
        single State or local jurisdiction to solve it;
            (7) such conduct operates to infringe upon women's ability 
        to exercise full enjoyment of rights secured to them by Federal 
        and State law, both statutory and constitutional, and burdens 
        interstate commerce, including by interfering with business 
        activities of medical clinics involved in interstate commerce 
        and by forcing women to travel from States where their access 
        to reproductive health services is obstructed to other States;
            (8) the entities that provide pregnancy or abortion-related 
        services engage in commerce by purchasing and leasing 
        facilities and equipment, selling goods and services, employing 
        people, and generating income;
            (9) such entities purchase medicine, medical supplies, 
        surgical instruments, and other supplies produced in other 
        States;
            (10) violence, threats of violence, obstruction, and 
        property damage directed at abortion providers and medical 
        facilities have had the effect of restricting the interstate 
        movement of goods and people;
            (11) prior to the Supreme Court's decision in Bray v. 
        Alexandria Women's Health Clinic (113 S. Ct. 753 (1993)), such 
        conduct was frequently restrained and enjoined by Federal 
        courts in actions brought under section 1980(3) of the Revised 
        Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1985(3));
            (12) in the Bray decision, the Court denied a remedy under 
        such section to persons injured by the obstruction of access to 
        abortion-related services;
            (13) legislation is necessary to prohibit the obstruction 
        of access by women to pregnancy or abortion-related services 
        and to ensure that persons injured by such conduct, as well as 
        the Attorney General of the United States and State Attorneys 
        General, can seek redress in the Federal courts;
            (14) the obstruction of access to pregnancy or abortion-
        related services can be prohibited, and the right of injured 
        parties to seek redress in the courts can be established, 
        without abridging the exercise of any rights guaranteed under 
        the First Amendment to the Constitution or other law; and
            (15) Congress has the affirmative power under section 8 of 
        article I of the Constitution as well as under section 5 of the 
        Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution to enact such 
        legislation.
    (b) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act to protect and promote 
the public health and safety and activities affecting interstate 
commerce by prohibiting the use of force, threat of force or physical 
obstruction to injure, intimidate or interfere with a person seeking to 
obtain or provide pregnancy or abortion-related services, and the 
destruction of property of facilities providing pregnancy or abortion-
related services, and by establishing the right of private parties 
injured by such conduct, as well as the Attorney General of the United 
States and State Attorneys General in appropriate cases, to bring 
actions for appropriate relief.

SEC. 3. FREEDOM OF ACCESS TO CLINIC ENTRANCES.

    Title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300aaa et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new 
section:

``SEC. 2715. FREEDOM OF ACCESS TO CLINIC ENTRANCES.

    ``(a) Prohibited Activities.--Whoever--
            ``(1) by force or threat of force or by physical 
        obstruction, intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes 
        with or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with any 
        person because that person is or has been, or in order to 
        intimidate such person or any other person or any class of 
        persons from, obtaining or providing pregnancy or abortion-
        related services: Provided, however, That nothing in this 
        section shall be construed as expanding or limiting the 
        authority of States to regulate the performance of abortions or 
        the availability of pregnancy or abortion-related services;
            ``(2) by force or threat of force or by physical 
        obstruction, intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes 
        with or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with any 
        person lawfully exercising or seeking to exercise the First 
        Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of worship; or
            ``(3) intentionally damages or destroys the property of a 
        medical facility or in which a medical facility is located, or 
        attempts to do so, because such facility provides pregnancy or 
        abortion-related services, or intentionally damages or destroys 
        the property of a place of religious worship,
shall be subject to the penalties provided in subsection (b) and the 
civil remedies provided in subsection (c), except that a parent or 
legal guardian of a minor shall not be subject to any penalties or 
civil remedies under this section for such activities insofar as they 
are directed exclusively at that minor.
    ``(b) Penalties.--Whoever violates this section shall--
            ``(1) in the case of a first offense, be fined in 
        accordance with title 18, United States Code (which fines shall 
        be paid into the general fund of the Treasury, miscellaneous 
        receipts (pursuant to section 3302 of title 31, United States 
        Code), notwithstanding any other law), or imprisoned not more 
        than 1 year, or both; and
            ``(2) in the case of a second or subsequent offense after a 
        prior conviction under this section, be fined in accordance 
        with title 18, United States Code (which fines shall be paid 
        into the general fund of the Treasury, miscellaneous receipts 
        (pursuant to section 3302 of title 31, United States Code), 
        notwithstanding any other law), or imprisoned not more than 3 
        years, or both;
except that for an offense involving exclusively a nonviolent physical 
obstruction, the fine shall be not more than $10,000 and the length of 
imprisonment shall be not more than six months, or both, for the first 
offense; and the fine shall be not more than $25,000 and the length of 
imprisonment shall be not more than 18 months, or both, for a 
subsequent offense; and except that if bodily injury results, the 
length of imprisonment shall be not more than 10 years, and if death 
results, it shall be for any term of years or for life.
    ``(c) Civil Remedies.--
            ``(1) Right of action.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Any person aggrieved by reason 
                of the conduct prohibited by subsection (a) may 
                commence a civil action for the relief set forth in 
                subparagraph (B), except that such an action may be 
                brought under subsection (a)(1) only by a person 
                involved in providing or seeking to provide, or 
                obtaining or seeking to obtain, services in a medical 
                facility that provides pregnancy or abortion-related 
                services.
                    ``(B) Relief.--In any action under subparagraph 
                (A), the court may award appropriate relief, including 
                temporary, preliminary or permanent injunctive relief 
                and compensatory and punitive damages, as well as the 
                costs of suit and reasonable fees for attorneys and 
                expert witnesses. With respect to compensatory damages, 
                the plaintiff may elect, at any time prior to the 
                rendering of final judgment, to recover, in lieu of 
                actual damages, an award of statutory damages in the 
                amount of $5,000 per violation.
            ``(2) Action by attorney general of the united states.--
                    ``(A) In general.--If the Attorney General of the 
                United States has reasonable cause to believe that any 
                person or group of persons is being, has been, or may 
                be injured by conduct constituting a violation of this 
                section, and such conduct raises an issue of general 
                public importance, the Attorney General may commence a 
                civil action in any appropriate United States District 
                Court.
                    ``(B) Relief.--In any action under subparagraph 
                (A), the court may award appropriate relief, including 
                temporary, preliminary or permanent injunctive relief 
                and compensatory damages to persons aggrieved as 
                described in paragraph (1)(B). The court, to vindicate 
                the public interest, may also assess a civil penalty 
                against each respondent--
                            ``(i) in an amount not exceeding $10,000 
                        for a nonviolent physical obstruction and 
                        $15,000 for other first violations; and
                            ``(ii) in an amount not exceeding $15,000 
                        for a nonviolent physical obstruction and 
                        $25,000, for any other subsequent violation.
            ``(3) Actions by state attorneys general.--
                    ``(A) In general.--If the Attorney General of a 
                State has reasonable cause to believe that any person 
                or group of persons is being, has been, or may be 
                injured by conduct constituting a violation of this 
                section, and such conduct raises an issue of general 
                public importance, such Attorney General may commence a 
                civil action in the name of such State, as parens 
                patriae on behalf of natural persons residing in such 
                State, in any appropriate United States District Court.
                    ``(B) Relief.--In any action under subparagraph 
                (A), the court may award appropriate relief, including 
                temporary, preliminary or permanent injunctive relief, 
                compensatory damages, and civil penalties as described 
                in paragraph (2)(B).
    ``(d) Rules of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed or interpreted to--
            ``(1) prevent any State from exercising jurisdiction over 
        any offense over which it would have jurisdiction in the 
        absence of this section;
            ``(2) deprive State and local law enforcement authorities 
        of responsibility for prosecuting acts that may be violations 
        of this section and that are violations of State or local law;
            ``(3) provide exclusive authority to prosecute, or 
        exclusive penalties for, acts that may be violations of this 
        section and that are violations of other Federal laws;
            ``(4) limit or otherwise affect the right of a person 
        aggrieved by acts that may be violations of this section to 
        seek other available civil remedies;
            ``(5) prohibit expression protected by the First Amendment 
        to the Constitution; or
            ``(6) create new remedies for interference with expressive 
        activities protected by the First Amendment to the 
        Constitution, occurring outside a medical facility, regardless 
        of the point of view expressed.
    ``(e) Definitions.--As used in this section:
            ``(1) Interfere with.--The term `interfere with' means to 
        restrict a person's freedom of movement.
            ``(2) Intimidate.--The term `intimidate' means to place a 
        person in reasonable apprehension of bodily harm to him- or 
        herself or to another.
            ``(3) Medical facility.--The term `medical facility' 
        includes a hospital, clinic, physician's office, or other 
        facility that provides health or surgical services or 
        counselling or referral related to health or surgical services.
            ``(4) Physical obstruction.--The term `physical 
        obstruction' means rendering impassable ingress to or egress 
        from a medical facility that provides pregnancy or abortion-
        related services or to or from a place of religious worship, or 
        rendering passage to or from such a facility or place of 
        religious worship unreasonably difficult or hazardous.
            ``(5) pregnancy or abortion-related services.--The term 
        `pregnancy or abortion-related services' includes medical, 
        surgical, counselling or referral services, provided in a 
        medical facility, relating to pregnancy or the termination of a 
        pregnancy.
            ``(6) State.--The term `State' includes a State of the 
        United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, 
        territory, or possession of the United States.''.

SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, nothing in this 
Act shall be construed to interfere with the rights guaranteed to an 
individual under the First Amendment to the Constitution, or limit any 
existing legal remedies against forceful interference with any person's 
lawful participation in speech or peaceful assembly.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall take effect with respect to conduct occurring on or 
after the date of enactment of this Act.

            Passed the Senate November 16 (legislative day, November 
      2), 1993.

            Attest:






                                                             Secretary.

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