The Interstate Abortion Bills have been a series of unsuccessful bills regularly nominated in the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washi ...

. Several versions of the bill were passed between February 2005 and September 2006, but did not become law. If enacted, these bills would make it a federal crime for non-parents/guardians to take a pregnant minor from a state where

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

is illegal to a state where it is legal, for the purposes of an

, without the consent of the minor's parents, punishable by up to a year in prison. In 1998, the Child Custody Protection Act (H.R. 3682) passed the

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air ...

by a vote of 276–150, but was not voted on by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

. In 2005, the House again passed the Child Custody Protection Act, with the Senate passing an amended version, the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (S. 403), in July 2006 by a vote of 65–34. In September 2006, the House passed a compromise version by a vote of 264–153, but when the bill returned again to the Senate, it was

filibustered A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out ...

. Additional versions of the bill, either named Child Custody Protection Act or Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, have been introduced in both the House and the Senate in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2021. The 2006 version of the bill received the support of then-president

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

. In June 2022, the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...

ruled in '' Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'' that abortion is not a constitutionally-protected right. Justice

Brett Kavanaugh Brett Michael Kavanaugh ( ; born February 12, 1965) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on July 9, 2018, and has served since ...

concurred with the court in ruling that abortion was not constitutionally protected, Kavanaugh found that laws prohibiting women from traveling from a state where abortion care is illegal to a different state to obtain an abortion would infringe on constitutionally-protected freedom of movement between states, making Interstate Abortion Bills unconstitutional unless a federal act of Congress prohibited abortions.

References

United States proposed federal abortion legislation Proposed legislation of the 109th United States Congress {{Abortion-stub