Kansas Supreme Court takes up dismemberment abortion suit

The Kansas Supreme Court has announced it will be hearing arguments on the state’s ban on dilation and evacuation (a.k.a. dismemberment) abortions.

The pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights challenged the law, which was the first enacted dismemberment abortion bill in the country, arguing it violated not only Roe v. Wade but also a supposed right to abortion in the Kansas Constitution.

District Judge Larry Hendricks initially issued an injunction against enforcing the bill, and half the judges on Kansas Court of Appeals agreed. The deadlock resulted in the lower ruling remaining in effect.

State Attorney General Derek Schmidt originally asked the state’s highest court to take the case immediately following the original lawsuit, which they declined. Now that it has worked its way though the system, however, they have changed their mind. Schmidt calls it a “fantasy” to claim the state Constitution protects abortion.

Dilation and excavation (D&E) procedures are common in second-trimester abortions. They gained their grisly nickname (dismemberment abortion) due to the fact that in the abortion process, the fetus is actually removed from the womb limb by limb. The Kansas law contains exceptions for removing the parts of already-deceased babies separately, abortions using only suction without cutting tools, and to save a mother from severe physical risk.

Former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino describes dismemberment abortions in greater detail as part of Live Action’s Abortion Procedures educational project:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgw4X7Dw_3k&w=560&h=315]