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Congressional Budget Office
March 28, 2003
Cost Estimate
H.R. 760
Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003
As ordered reported by the House Committee on the Judiciary on March 26, 2003
CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 760 would not result in any significant cost to the federal government. Enacting H.R. 760 could affect direct spending and receipts, but CBO estimates that any such effects would not be significant.
H.R. 760 would ban most instances of a late-term abortion procedure known as "partial-birth abortion." Violators of the bill's provisions would be subject to a criminal fine or imprisonment. Because the bill would establish a new federal crime, the government would be able to pursue cases it otherwise would not be able to prosecute. However, CBO expects that any increase in costs for law enforcement, court proceedings, or prison operations would not be significant because of the small number of cases likely to be affected. Any such additional costs would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
Because those prosecuted and convicted under H.R. 760 could be subject to criminal fines, the federal government might collect additional fines if the bill is enacted. Collections of such fines are recorded in the budget as governmental receipts (revenues), which are deposited in the Crime Victims Fund and later spent. CBO expects that any additional receipts and direct spending would be negligible because of the small number of cases involved.
H.R. 760 contains no intergovernmental mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. H.R. 760 would impose a private-sector mandate as defined by UMRA by prohibiting physicians from performing "partial-birth abortions," as defined in the bill, except when necessary to save the life of a mother. The direct costs of the mandate would be measured as the net income forgone by physicians and clinics. Based on information from industry sources and nongovernmental organizations, CBO expects that the direct cost of the mandate would fall below the annual threshold established by UMRA for private-sector mandates ($117 million in 2003, adjusted annually for inflation).
The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Mark Grabowicz (for federal costs) and Paige Piper/Bach (for the impact on the private sector). This estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
THE PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION BAN ACT (HR 1122) AS PASSED
BY THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ON MARCH 20, 1997
Sec. 1531. Partial-birth abortions prohibited.
- (a) Any physician who, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce,
knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion and thereby kills a human fetus
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years,
or both. This paragraph shall not apply to a partial-birth abortion that
is necessary to save the life of a mother whose life is endangered by a
physical disorder, illness, or injury: Provided, That no other medical
procedure would suffice for that purpose. This paragraph shall become effective
one day after enactment.
- (b) (1) As used in this section, the term 'partial-birth abortion'
means an abortion in which the person performing the abortion partially
vaginally delivers a living fetus before killing the fetus and completing
the delivery.
- (2) As used in this section, the term 'physician' means a doctor of
medicine or osteopathy legally authorized to practice medicine and surgery
by the State in which the doctor performs such activity, or any other individual
legally authorized by the State to perform abortions: Provided, however,
That any individual who is not a physician or not otherwise legally authorized
by the State to perform abortions, but who nevertheless directly performs
a partial-birth abortion, shall be subject to the provisions of this section.
- (c) (1) The father, if married to the mother at the time she receives
a partial-birth abortion procedure, and if the mother has not attained
the age of 18 years at the time of the abortion, the maternal grandparents
of the fetus, may in a civil action obtain appropriate relief, unless the
pregnancy resulted from the plaintiff's criminal conduct or the plaintiff
consented to the abortion.
- (2) Such relief shall include --
- (A) money damages for all injuries, psychological and physical, occasioned
by the violation of this section; and
- (B) statutory damages equal to three times the cost of the partial-birth
abortion.
- (d) A woman upon whom a partial-birth abortion is performed may not
be prosecuted under this section, for a conspiracy to violate this section,
or for an offense under section 2, 3, or 4 of this title based on a violation
of this section.
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