S. 404 The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act

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The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA) would institute two important reforms to prevent a pregnant girl from being taken across state lines for an abortion without her parent’s knowledge.

First, the bill would prohibit anyone from taking a pregnant girl to another state for an abortion with the intent to evade a parental notification or consent law in the girl’s home state.

Currently, a minor girl who is impregnated by an adult abuser can be taken to a state where there is no parental notification or consent requirement and forced by that abuser to have a secret abortion. Her parents will never know what happened to their daughter and the abuser can continue his criminal acts, secure in the knowledge that the evidence of his conduct has been destroyed. CIANA would be a powerful tool in fighting sex trafficking, where a trafficker now can depend on the secrecy of the abortion industry to facilitate his enslavement of young girls who become pregnant.

Second, S. 404 would require an abortionist to notify a parent of a minor from another state before taking the life of that minor’s child. This protection of parents’ rights would apply regardless of whether or not the abortionist’s state requires parental notification prior to an abortion.
CIANA has been introduced in Congress for the last ten years and has enjoyed bipartisan support, but has never been enacted into law.
CIANA has also been introduced in the House of Representatives where its number is H.R. 803.

Text

The text of S. 404 will be available online at https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/404/text

Co-Sponsors

S. 404 was introduced by Senator Marco Rubio (FL). A list of the bill’s co-sponsors may be found at https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/404/cosponsors.

Status

2-5-15 S. 404 Introduced in U.S. Senate

2-5-15 Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary