North Dakota governor signs bill banning dismemberment abortion
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum signed a bill on Wednesday outlawing D&E abortions, commonly known as dismemberment abortions. HB 1546 was overwhelmingly passed by lawmakers. It was approved in the House in a vote of 78-13, and in the Senate with a vote of 39-7. Anyone who breaks this law and commits a D&E abortion could be charged with a Class C felony and face up to five years in prison and/or a fine of ten thousand dollars.
During a dismemberment abortion, the abortionist tears the limbs off of the preborn child’s body during the second-trimester using forceps and clamps. The process is brutal and culminates in the crushing of the child’s skull. To ensure the abortion is complete, an abortion worker must piece the child back together like a horrific puzzle. Former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino describes this inhumane procedure in the video below:
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The bill states that “‘human dismemberment abortion’ means intentionally dismembering a living unborn child and extracting the unborn child one piece at a time from a uterus, with the purpose of causing the death of an unborn child, through use of clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors, or similar instruments….” It also makes an exception “in case of a medical emergency.” This exception is completely arbitrary because not only is abortion never medically necessary, but this particular type of abortion takes two to three days to complete. In an actual emergency, a three-day procedure would not be advisable. An emergency C-section would take just minutes and no one is purposefully killed in the process.
“Dismemberment abortion, like partial-birth abortion is a brutal procedure which literally rips a living child apart limb from limb,” said Ingrid Duran, director of State Legislation. “In Carhart, the Supreme Court said, ‘No one would dispute that, for many, D&E is a procedure itself laden with the power to devalue human life.'”
Similar laws in other states are being held because of lawsuits that have been filed against them. According to KFGO local news, this bill will take effect if a federal appeals court or the U.S. Supreme Court allows it to.
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