Pennsylvania House Votes to Ban Brutal Dismemberment Abortions

 

 

from Maria Gallagher, Legislative Director
Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation


HARRISBURG, Pa. –Preborn babies in Pennsylvania would no longer have to undergo brutal dismemberment abortions, under a bill passed Tuesday by the PA House of Representatives.

Senate Bill 3, which has already passed the PA Senate, would ban abortions in which living babies are torn limb by limb from their mothers’ wombs. The legislation would also change the abortion limit in PA from six months to five months gestation to reflect medical advances that allow doctors to save tiny premature infants.

“No child in Pennsylvania should be subjected to the inhumane practice of dismemberment abortions, where they are brutally assaulted in their mothers’ wombs,” said Maria Gallagher, legislative director for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, an affiliate of National Right to Life. “This long-overdue legislation also ensures that mothers would not have to grieve children whose lives are taken in such a cruel way,” Gallagher added.

Specifically, Senate Bill 3 would make it illegal to cause “the death of an unborn child by means of dismembering the unborn child and extracting the unborn child one piece at a time from the uterus through the use of clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors or similar instruments.”

A statewide poll found strong support for a dismemberment ban in Pennsylvania.

“A survey of Pennsylvanians showed that the vast majority—61 percent—approve of a ban on lethal dismemberment abortions,” Gallagher said. “The support is even higher among women, with 64 percent of female respondents in favor of such a ban.”

The bill includes exceptions for saving the life of the mother and to prevent the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of a woman.

“So many women have come to me, asking when we will see an end to the heinous practice of dismemberment abortions in Pennsylvania,” Gallagher said. “We urge Governor Tom Wolf to sign this bill into law—for the well-being of precious children and their mothers throughout the Commonwealth,” Gallagher added.


 

The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation is a grassroots right-to-life organization with members statewide. As the state affiliate of National Right to Life, PPLF is committed to promoting the dignity and value of human life from conception to natural death and to restoring legal protection for preborn children.