S 2172 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
Respectful Treatment of Unborn Remains Act of 2025
To prohibit fetal remains in publicly owned water systems, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill would prohibit abortion providers from placing fetal remains into publicly owned water systems. Violations would result in fines and imprisonment for up to 5 years. The bill defines fetal remains as the remains of an aborted fetus and associated medical waste, and defines publicly owned water systems as government-owned facilities used to provide, transport, or treat water. The bill specifies that individuals who undergo abortion would not be liable for violations. The bill does not preempt more restrictive state or local laws on the same subject.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN] (R-IN)
1 cosponsor
- Sen. Young, Todd [R-IN] (R-IN)
Actions (2)
- Jun 25, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. · senate
- Jun 25, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 25 (legislative day, June 24), 2025
Mr. Banks introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To prohibit fetal remains in publicly owned water systems, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Respectful Treatment of Unborn Remains Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF FETAL REMAINS IN PUBLICLY OWNED WATER SYSTEMS.
Part H of title IV of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 289 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“SEC. 498F. PROHIBITION OF FETAL REMAINS IN PUBLICLY OWNED WATER SYSTEMS.
“(a) In General.—An abortion provider may not cause fetal remains to be placed into a publicly owned water system.
“(b) Penalties for Violation.—An abortion provider who violates subsection (a) shall be fined in accordance with title 18, United States Code, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
“(c) No Liability for Individual Upon Whom Abortion Is Performed.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an individual upon whom an abortion is performed shall not be liable for any offense related to a violation of subsection (a) with respect to such abortion.
“(d) Relation to Other Law.—Nothing in this section may be construed to preempt a State or local requirement that prohibits an abortion provider from causing fetal remains to be placed into a publicly owned water system.
“(e) Definitions.—In this section:
“(1) Abortion.—The term ‘abortion’ means a procedure involving the use or prescription of a device or substance—
“(A) to intentionally kill the unborn child of an individual known to be pregnant; or
“(B) to intentionally terminate the pregnancy of such an individual, unless such termination is conducted with the intent to—
“(i) produce a live birth and preserve the life and health of such child; or
“(ii) remove a dead unborn child from the body of such an individual.
“(2) Abortion provider.—
“(A) In general.—The term ‘abortion provider’ means an individual who performs an abortion.
“(B) Exclusion.—The term ‘abortion provider’ does not include, with respect to an abortion, the individual upon whom the abortion is performed.
“(3) Fetal remains.—The term ‘fetal remains’ means—
“(A) the remains of an aborted fetus (or a portion thereof); and
“(B) any other medical waste associated with an abortion.
“(4) Publicly owned water system.—The term ‘publicly owned water system’ means a system of facilities owned or controlled by a Federal, State, or local government entity, the purpose of which is to provide, transport, or treat water, including the drains, pipes, and other devices that connect to such system.”. <all>
Comments