S. 314: Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act of 2011

112th Congress · introduced 2011-02-10 · Health · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

federal

Follow this bill, step by step

Where it came from: introduced 2011-02-10 · official record
Who proposed it: Sen. Johanns, Mike [R-NE] · what a sponsor is
What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
Where it stands now: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.

What does this mean?

Official title

Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act of 2011

Plain summary

Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act of 2011 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require an abortion provider who knowingly performs an abortion of a pain-capable unborn child (defined as an unborn child who has reached a probable stage of development of 20 weeks or more after fertilization), to first: (1) inform the woman of the probable age of the child, (2) provide to the woman an Unborn Child Pain Awareness Brochure (unless she waives receipt), (3) provide information that pain medicine administered to the mother may not prevent pain in the child, but in some cases anesthesia or pain-reducing drugs can be administered directly to the child, (4) give the woman the provider's best medical judgment of the risks and costs of such anesthesia or analgesic, and (5) obtain the woman's signature on the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Decision Form and her explicit request for or refusal of the administration of drugs to the child. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Brochure that includes a statement that there is substantial evidence that the process of being killed in an abortion will cause the unborn child pain and that the mother has the option of having pain-reducing drugs administered directly to the child. Creates an exception to save the life of the mother. Establishes civil penalties for willfully failing to comply with this Act. Authorizes: (1) the U.S. Attorney General (DOJ) to bring a civil action under this Act, and (2) private rights of action for violations of this Act.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act of 2011

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)

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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. Johanns, Mike [R-NE] · 18 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

John Boozman (R-AR), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), James E. Risch (R-ID), John Thune (R-SD), Roger F. Wicker (R-MS)

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Sources

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
Congress.gov
Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-112s314.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/112/s>

Record fed-us-cong112-s314 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong112 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong112