[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 853 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 853

     To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the use of 
               interstate commerce for suicide promotion.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 4, 2009

 Mr. Herger (for himself, Mr. Matheson, Ms. Bordallo, and Mrs. Myrick) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the use of 
               interstate commerce for suicide promotion.

    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 ``Suzanne Gonzales Suicide Prevention 
Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF INTERSTATE COMMERCE FOR SUICIDE 
              PROMOTION.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 51 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting after section 1122 the following:
``Sec. 1123. Interstate suicide promotion
    ``(a) Whoever knowingly uses any facility of interstate or foreign 
commerce with intent--
            ``(1) to teach a particular person how to commit suicide, 
        knowing that the person so taught is likely to use that 
        teaching to commit suicide; or
            ``(2) to provide a particular person with material support 
        or resources to help such person commit suicide, knowing that 
        the person is likely to use the support to commit suicide;
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or 
both, but if the death of any person is caused by the offense, the term 
of imprisonment that may be imposed for the offense is any term of 
years or for life.
    ``(b) As used in this section--
            ``(1) the term `teach a particular person how to commit 
        suicide' means supplying information, that is not generally 
        known, to a particular person who the provider knows is 
        contemplating suicide, with the intent of making that person's 
        suicide attempt easier to accomplish or more likely to succeed;
            ``(2) the term `material support' with respect to helping a 
        person commit suicide means any property, tangible or 
        intangible, or service that is reasonably capable of 
        substantially assisting a person to commit suicide, with the 
        intent of making that person's suicide attempt easier to 
        accomplish or more likely to succeed; and
            ``(3) the term `State' includes the District of Columbia 
        and any other commonwealth, territory, or possession of the 
        United States.
    ``(c) Nothing in this section--
            ``(1) supersedes the authority of a State to enact laws 
        relating to suicide or assistance to suicide within its 
        territory; or
            ``(2) prohibits the use of a facility of interstate or 
        foreign commerce to supply information or material support to a 
        recipient acting in accordance with the law of the State in 
        which the recipient resides.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
chapter 51 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
after the item relating to section 1122 the following new item:

``1123. Interstate suicide promotion.''.
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