Pregnancy Resource Center Defense Act

This bill aims to strengthen legal protections for facilities providing counseling about abortion alternatives and for places of religious worship. It achieves this by amending sections of title 18 of the United States Code to increase both criminal penalties and civil remedies for acts of violence or obstruction targeting these specific locations. Specifically, the legislation mandates a potential imprisonment of up to three years for a first offense involving an abortion-alternative facility or a place of religious worship , provided the conduct was not solely a nonviolent physical obstruction. It also significantly raises civil penalties, imposing fines of $20,000 per violation and $25,000 for a first violation in such cases. Furthermore, the bill extends existing federal penalties for the destruction of buildings by fire or explosive to explicitly cover abortion-alternative facilities and places of religious worship , ensuring a minimum 7-year imprisonment for such acts.