Planned Parenthood Defends Dismemberment Abortions Tearing Off Babies’ Limbs

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Jun 3, 2020   |   4:46PM   |   Lansing, Michigan

Planned Parenthood is taking “every opportunity” to try to stop a ban on the brutal dismemberment of unborn babies in abortions in Michigan.

This week, the billion-dollar abortion chain filed a lawsuit challenging the validity of signatures on a pro-life petition to ban dismemberment abortions throughout the state, according to MLive.com.

“We’ve said all along that we would challenge this initiative at every opportunity because we know how dangerous it is for politics to dictate medical care,” said Angela Vasquez-Giroux, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan, in a statement.

But abortions are not medical care, and dismemberment abortions are especially brutal procedures that kill second-trimester unborn babies by tearing them limb from limb while their hearts are still beating.

In December, the Michigan Values Life coalition submitted 379,418 signatures to the Michigan Bureau of Elections to initiate legislation to ban dismemberment abortions in Michigan. The petition needs 340,047 valid signatures to make that happen.

However, the lawsuit, filed by the pro-abortion Coalition to Protect Access to Care, claims at least 65 signatures (13%) were defective in a 500-signature sample, according to the report. If that percent carries across the total, there will not be enough to meet the threshold.

Still, Michigan pro-life advocates remain hopeful.

SIGN THE PETITION: Stop Infanticide! Stop Abortions Up to Birth!

Right to Life of Michigan, part of the Michigan Values Life group that collected the signatures, is working hard to protect unborn babies through a counter-challenge to the abortion industry’s lawsuit.

“Now that the challenges have been filed, Michigan Values Life has the opportunity to ‘revive’ each signature with a counter-challenge,” the pro-life organization said. “We can guarantee some signatures [Planned Parenthood] challenged are valid based on very preliminary checks.”

It explained:

The Bureau of Elections eliminated 6,357 [petition] signatures for damage to the petition, i.e. tears, smears, stains, stickers on the back or front (a portion of those are possibly salvageable if needed). That leaves 373,062 signatures, technically meaning 456 signatures in the sample need to be valid for the petition drive to reach the legal requirement of 340,047 signatures.

… If 30 of the 65 signatures are revived, the threshold of 465 will be reached.

Last spring, Michigan lawmakers passed bills to ban the brutal practice on unborn babies, but pro-abortion Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vowed to veto the legislation. The voter petition would allow the law to pass without Whitmer’s signature.

A dismemberment abortion, or dilation and evacuation (D&E), is a procedure in which the abortionist dilates the woman’s cervix and then uses steel instruments to dismember and extract the baby from the uterus while his or her heart is still beating.

Dismemberment is a common second-trimester abortion method. In the second trimester, unborn babies are nearly fully formed, and strong scientific evidence indicates they can feel pain.

In 2018, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported 1,908 dismemberment abortions.

Eleven states have passed laws to ban dismemberment abortions: Ohio, Kansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Kentucky and North Dakota. However, a federal court blocked Kentucky’s law earlier this week.