On Tuesday, the Louisiana State Senate voted 36-2 to ban dilation & evacuation, or dismemberment, abortions, sending the bill to pro-life Democrat Governor John Bel Edwards for his signature.
The bill’s author, Republican State Representative Mike Johnson, calls dismemberment abortion procedures “barbaric” and notes that even Supreme Court Justices favorably disposed toward legal abortion have expressed ambivalence toward the method, namely Justice Anthony Kennedy.
The gruesome procedure, which tears apart a preborn child limb from torso, is the most prevalent procedure in the second trimester. Former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino describes dismemberment abortions in greater detail as part of Live Action News’s Abortion Procedures project in the following video:
However, despite what the procedure entails, abortion advocates such as NARAL still claim “dismemberment abortion” is a “medically inaccurate” name.
The bill contains an exception only for “serious health risks” to the mother. A spokesman for Edwards says the governor intends to sign the bill.
