Sec. 5. Interference by persons not officers or employees of a State or unit of local government prohibited
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/bill/118/hr/62/ih/section-5A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
No person who is not an officer or employee of a State or of a unit of local government, who, in a circumstance described in subsection (b), by operation of a provision of State law attempts to implement or enforce State law, may act or threaten to act in any manner to prevent, restrict, impede, or retaliate against— a health care provider who seeks to initiate, provide, or otherwise facilitate the provision of reproductive health care services to a patient or prospective patient; any person or entity that assists a health care provider who seeks to initiate, provide, or otherwise facilitate the provision of reproductive health care services to a patient or prospective patient; any person who seeks to gain access to— reproductive health care services; or a health care provider for the purpose of accessing reproductive health care services; or any person or entity that seeks to assist another person who seeks to gain access to— reproductive health care services; or a health care provider for the purpose of accessing reproductive health care services.
For the purposes of subsection (a), the circumstances described in this subsection are that— any travel in interstate or foreign commerce, or travel enabled by a means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce, occurred in furtherance of or in connection with the conduct described in subsection (a); a means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce was used in furtherance of or in connection with the conduct described in subsection (a); any payment of any kind was made, directly or indirectly, in furtherance of or in connection with the conduct described in subsection
(a)using any means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce; any communication was transmitted in interstate or foreign commerce, relating to or in furtherance of the conduct described in subsection
(a)using any means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce by any means or in manner, including by computer, mail, wire, or electromagnetic transmission; any instrument, item, substance, or other object that has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce was used to perform the conduct described in subsection (a); the conduct described in subsection
(a)occurred within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or any territory or possession of the United States; or the conduct described in subsection
(a)otherwise occurred in or affected interstate or foreign commerce. The Attorney General may bring a civil action for declaratory and injunctive relief in the appropriate United States district court against any person who violates subsection (a). Any person who is harmed by a violation of subsection
(a)may bring a civil action in the appropriate United States district court against the person who violated such subsection for— declaratory and injunctive relief; such compensatory damages as the court determines appropriate, including for economic losses and for emotional pain and suffering; such punitive damages as the court determines appropriate; and reasonable attorney’s fees and costs of the action that the court determines appropriate to award to a prevailing plaintiff. Whoever, in violating subsection (a), uses a deadly or dangerous weapon or inflicts bodily injury, shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.