PA House Passes Dismemberment Ban

The Pennsylvania Pro Life Federation would like to congratulate the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for passing, in a bipartisan vote of 132 to 65. House Bill 1948 a common sense piece of legislation which bans brutal dismemberment abortions.

"These common abortions are performed on fully developed, preborn babies at their most vulnerable, and when they should be the safest," said Maria Gallagher, Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation Legislative Director. "In a dismemberment abortion, fully-formed babies are brutally torn apart limb from limb. We’ve seen ultrasound images of these babies clapping, dancing, and reacting to stimuli from outside the womb. Surely we can all agree that they do not deserve to be torn apart in the most horrific and gruesome way possible," Gallagher added.

Dismemberment abortions have been described by Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy in Gonzales v. Carhart as a procedure that is "laden with the power to devalue human life." Of the approximately 1 million abortions performed annually in this country, almost 9% are performed by dismemberment.

Approximately 1,550 Pennsylvanians died from this abortion method in 2014.
Former abortionist Dr. George Flesh has been quoted as saying:

"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. This is not based on what the fetus might feel but on what we should feel in watching an exquisite, partly formed human being dismembered."

"Most countries are civilized enough to realize pre-born babies should not be torn apart. There are only seven countries in the world, including human rights-violating countries such as North Korea and China, that allow this terrible act. Pennsylvanians deserve better," stated Michael Ciccocioppo, executive director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, the Pennsylvania affiliate of National Right to Life. "This is an important first step in removing us from that stigma. Now we call on the Pennsylvania Senate to act quickly to concur and on Governor Wolf to sign the bill to protect his most vulnerable constituents."