Governor Doug Burgum signed a bill yesterday protecting North Dakota children from dismemberment abortions, a barbaric and dangerous procedure typically used in the second trimester to kill nearly fully-formed, living unborn babies. Doctors performing this would face a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. An exception exists for medical emergencies.
HB 1546 outlaws a dilation and evacuation abortion (D&E) in which the unborn baby is ripped apart in the womb and pulled out, one piece at a time, from the uterus with clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors or similar instruments. The D&E abortion procedure is usually performed between 13 and 24 weeks when the unborn child has a beating heart and brain waves, is startled by loud noises, has learned to breath, can suck its thumb, its eyes move, its bones are hardening, and can feel pain.
Former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino explains the D&E procedure in a video produced by Live Action.
Laws in Mississippi and West Virginia also ban this procedure while legal challenges in Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas have similar laws on hold.
In Alabama, Liberty Counsel filed an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the law that prohibits D&E abortions. In Marshall v. West Alabama Women’s Center, Liberty Counsel represents the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists and American College of Pediatricians. Although the Court of Appeals invalidated the Alabama law, it did so only because the judges said they were bound by the Supreme Court, which they noted created an “aberration of constitutional law” related to abortion. While disagreeing with the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals acknowledged it is not the Supreme Court.
Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will consider whether it will decide to hear this case.
“Dismemberment abortion is a brutal procedure which literally rips an innocent living child apart limb from limb,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “As a nation, we must outlaw this barbaric and gruesome procedure. The law protects the human dignity of even the vilest criminal from cruel and unusual punishment so how much more should the law protect an innocent unborn child from the most despicable form of torture and death? There are just seven countries in the world that allow children to endure this barbaric procedure and that disgraceful list includes the United States,” said Staver.
