Florida House Committee Passes Bill to Ban Dismemberment Abortions Tearing Off Babies’ Limbs

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Feb 16, 2018   |   10:30AM   |   Tallahassee, FL

Florida House lawmakers advanced a bill to protect unborn babies from brutal dismemberment abortions Thursday.

The Health and Human Services Committee approved the bill in a 13-6 vote, moving it to the full House for a vote, News 4 JAX reports.

Florida House Bill 1429 would prohibit the practice of dismemberment abortion, a method typically used in the second trimester to kill nearly fully-formed, living unborn babies. It is a barbaric and dangerous procedure in which the unborn baby is ripped apart in the womb and pulled out in pieces while his or her heart is beating. Abortionists who violate the law could face felony charges.

A similar bill is being considered in the state Senate.

Here’s more from the report:

“Often the process begins while the fetus is living, and fetal death occurs due to or as a result of the trauma caused by the procedure,” said Rep. Erin Grall, a Vero Beach Republican who is sponsoring the bill.

She said the legislation, which has cleared two other House committees, “expresses respect for the dignity of life by prohibiting a physician from performing this brutal procedure and tortious dismemberment on a living fetus.”

But Barbara DeVane, representing the Florida National Organization of Women, opposed the bill and complained that some House members on previous committees had unfairly criticized the bill’s opponents.

The abortion chain Planned Parenthood also is fighting against the bill.

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During the committee hearing, Kathi Aultman, a former abortionist who now is pro-life, described the brutal way dismemberment abortions destroy unborn babies.

“I support this bill because it prevents the infliction of needless pain and suffering on an innocent human being with only minor inconvenience to the mother and the abortionist,” she said.

A handful of states already have passed dismemberment abortion bans. In 2017, a federal judge blocked the Texas law, claiming it is unconstitutional. Planned Parenthood is involved in the lawsuit; however, the state is appealing.

The law made Texas the eighth state to protect developing preborn children from such a heinous act. Earlier in 2017, Arkansas enacted the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act joining Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and West Virginia.

The dismemberment abortion ban embodies model legislation from the National Right to Life Committee that would prohibit “dismemberment abortion,” using forceps, clamps, scissors or similar instruments on a living unborn baby to remove him or her from the womb in pieces. Such instruments typically are used in dilation and evacuation (D&E) procedures.