Dismemberment Abortion Ban Delayed by Veto Threat from Pro-Abortion Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf

By Maria Gallagher, Legislative PAC Director
Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation

It’s a practice so horrific, it is painful to even describe.

Dismemberment abortion is a ghastly method by which the life of an innocent preborn child is ended, violently, brutally—at a time when she may be developed enough to grasp with her hands, suck her thumb, and feel pain.

Statistics indicate 1,550 of our Commonwealth’s preborn children died from dismemberment abortion in 2014, the latest year for which figures are available from the state Health Department

Former abortionist George Flesh once wrote, 

“Tearing a developed fetus apart, limb by limb, is an act of depravity that society should not permit. We cannot afford such a devaluation of human life, nor the desensitization of medical personnel it requires” http://articles.latimes.com/19 09-12/local/me-2729_1_human-life

In his dissent to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2000 Stenberg v. Carhart decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy explained dismemberment abortion this way:

“The fetus, in many cases, dies just as a human adult or child would: It bleeds to death as it is torn apart limb by limb. The fetus can be alive at the beginning of the dismemberment process and can survive for a time while its limbs are being torn off. The process of dismembering the fetus continues until it has been completely removed. A doctor may make 10 to 15 passes with the forceps to evacuate the fetus in its entirety, though sometimes removal is completed with fewer passes.

 Once the fetus has been evacuated, the placenta and any remaining fetal material are suctioned or scraped out of the uterus. The doctor examines the different parts to ensure the entire fetal body has been removed.” [Underlining added.]

Over the past year, so many women have come to me, asking when we will see an end to the heinous practice of dismemberment abortions in Pennsylvania. Certainly, there is widespread support for such a ban. Polling last year indicated an overwhelming majority of Pennsylvanians approved of a ban, with the level of support actually higher among female respondents.

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