text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``Freedom of Choice Act''.
  
  SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
  
      Congress finds the following:
              (1) The United States was founded on the principles of 
          individual liberty, personal privacy, and equality. Such 
          principles ensure that each individual is free to make the most 
          intimate decisions free from governmental interference and 
          discrimination.
              (2) A woman's decision to commence, prevent, continue, or 
          terminate a pregnancy is one of the most intimate decisions an 
          individual ever faces. As such, reproductive health decisions 
          are best made by the woman, in consultation with her medical 
          provider or loved ones, without governmental interference.
              (3) In 1965, in Griswold v. Connecticut (381 U.S. 479), and 
          in 1973, in Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113) and Doe v. Bolton (410 
          U.S. 179), the Supreme Court recognized the right to privacy 
          protected by the Constitution and that such right encompassed 
          the right of every woman to weigh the personal, moral, and 
          religious considerations involved in deciding whether to 
          commence, prevent, continue, or terminate a pregnancy.
              (4) The Roe v. Wade decision carefully balanced the rights 
          of women to make important reproductive decisions with the 
          state's interest in potential life. Under Roe v. Wade and Doe 
          v. Bolton, a woman's right to choose to terminate her pregnancy 
          is absolute only prior to fetal viability, with the state 
          permitted to ban abortion after fetal viability except when 
          necessary to protect the life or health of a woman.
              (5) These decisions have protected the health and lives of 
          women in the United States. Prior to the Roe v. Wade decision, 
          an estimated 1,200,000 women each year were forced to resort to 
          illegal abortions, despite the known hazards that included 
          unsanitary conditions, incompetent treatment, infection, 
          hemorrhage, disfiguration, and death.
              (6) According to one estimate, prior to 1973, as many as 
          5,000 women died each year in the United States as a result of 
          having an illegal abortion.
              (7) In countries where abortion remains illegal, the risk 
          of complications and maternal mortality is high. According to 
          the World Health Organization, of the approximately 600,000 
          pregnancy-related deaths occurring annually around the world, 
          80,000 are associated with unsafe abortions.
              (8) The Roe v. Wade decision expanded the opportunities for 
          women to participate equally in society. In 1992, in Planned 
          Parenthood v. Casey (505 U.S. 833), the Supreme Court observed 
          that, ``[t]he ability of women to participate equally in the 
          economic and social life of the Nation has been facilitated by 
          their ability to control their reproductive lives.''.
              (9) Even though the Roe v. Wade decision guaranteed a 
          constitutional right to choose whether to terminate or continue 
          a pregnancy, threats to that right remain, including possible 
          reversal or further erosion by the Supreme Court of the right, 
          and legislative and administrative policies at all levels of 
          government that make abortion more difficult and dangerous to 
          obtain.
              (10) 87 percent of the counties in the United States have 
          no abortion provider.
              (11) Legal barriers to the full range of reproductive 
          services endanger the health and lives of women.
              (12) Women should have meaningful access to reproductive 
          health services to prevent unintended pregnancies, thereby 
          reducing the need for abortions.
              (13) To ensure that a woman's right to choose whether to 
          terminate a pregnancy is available to all women in the United 
          States, Federal protection for that right is necessary.
              (14) Although Congress may not create constitutional rights 
          without amending the Constitution, Congress may, where 
          authorized by its enumerated powers and not prohibited by the 
          Constitution, enact legislation to create and secure statutory 
          rights in areas of legitimate national concern.
              (15) Congress has the affirmative power under section 8 of 
          article I of the Constitution and section 5 of the 14th 
          amendment to the Constitution to enact legislation to 
          facilitate interstate commerce and to prevent State 
          interference with interstate commerce, liberty, or equal 
          protection of the laws.
              (16) Federal protection of a woman's right to choose to 
          prevent or terminate a pregnancy falls within this affirmative 
          power of Congress, in part, because--
                      (A) many women cross State lines to obtain 
                  abortions and many more would be forced to do so absent 
                  a constitutional right or Federal protection;
                      (B) reproductive health clinics are commercial 
                  actors that regularly purchase medicine, medical 
                  equipment, and other necessary supplies from out-of-
                  State suppliers; and
                      (C) reproductive health clinics employ doctors, 
                  nurses, and other personnel who travel across State 
                  lines in order to provide reproductive health services 
                  to patients.
  
  SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
  
      In this Act:
              (1) Government.--The term ``government'' includes a branch, 
          department, agency, instrumentality, or official (or other 
          individual acting under color of law) of the United States, a 
          State, or a subdivision of a State.
              (2) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the 50 States, 
          the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and 
          each territory or possession of the United States.
              (3) Viability.--The term ``viability'' means that stage of 
          pregnancy when, in the best medical judgment of the attending 
          physician based on the particular medical facts of the case 
          before the physician, there is a reasonable likelihood of the 
          sustained survival of the fetus outside of the woman.
  
  SEC. 4. INTERFERENCE WITH REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROHIBITED.
  
      (a) Statement of Policy.--It is the policy of the United States 
  that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child, 
  to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a 
  pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or 
  health of the woman.
      (b) Prohibition of Interference.--A government may not--
              (1) deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose--
                      (A) to bear a child;
                      (B) to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability; or
                      (C) to terminate a pregnancy after viability where 
                  termination is necessary to protect the life or health 
                  of the woman; or
              (2) discriminate against the exercise of the rights set 
          forth in paragraph (1) in the regulation or provision of 
          benefits, facilities, services, or information.
      (c) Civil Action.--An individual aggrieved by a violation of this 
  section may obtain appropriate relief (including relief against a 
  government) in a civil action.
  
  SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY.
  
      If any provision of this Act, or the application of such provision 
  to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the 
  remainder of this Act, or the application of such provision to persons 
  or circumstances other than those as to which the provision is held to 
  be unconstitutional, shall not be affected thereby.
  
  SEC. 6. RETROACTIVE EFFECT.
  
      This Act applies to every Federal, State, and local statute, 
  ordinance, regulation, administrative order, decision, policy, 
  practice, or other action enacted, adopted, or implemented before, on, 
  or after the date of enactment of this Act.
target: Freedom of Choice Act - Declares that it is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to: (1) bear a child; (2) terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability; or (3) terminate it after fetal viability when necessary to protect her life or her health.
  
  Prohibits a governmental entity from : (1) denying or interfering with a woman's right to exercise such choices; or (2) discriminating against the exercise of those rights in its regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information.
  
  Authorizes an individual aggrieved by a violation of this Act to obtain appropriate relief, including relief against a governmental entity in a civil action.
  
  States that this Act applies to every Federal, State, and local statute, ordinance, regulation, administrative order, decision, policy, practice, or other action enacted, adopted, or implemented before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act.
feat_title: To prohibit, consistent with Roe v. Wade, the interference by the government with a woman's right to choose to bear a child or terminate a pregnancy, and for other purposes.