Protecting Preborn Children from Dismemberment Abortions

In his dissent to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2000 Stenberg v. Carhart decision, Justice Kennedy observed that in D&E dismemberment abortions, “The fetus, in many cases, dies just as a human adult or child would: It bleeds to death as it is torn limb from limb. The fetus can be alive at the beginning of the dismemberment process and can survive for a time while its limbs are being torn off.” Justice Kennedy added in the Court’s 2007 opinion in Gonzales v. Carhart that D&E abortions are “laden with the power to devalue human life…”

In January 2015, Kansas State Sen. Garrett Love introduced the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act, a bill that would protect preborn children from the brutality of dismemberment abortions.

For press inquiries, visit the NRLC Online Press Room.

Factsheet: Dismemberment Abortion Bans — June 7, 2017

Release: Kansas Becomes the First State to Enact Groundbreaking Dismemberment Abortion Ban – April 7, 2015

Release: Groundbreaking Dismemberment Abortion Ban in Kansas Kicks Off Right to Life Movement’s 2015 Legislative Agenda – January 14, 2015

Resources: Frequently Asked Questions about the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act [PDF] – December 2016

Legal Memorandum: Constitutionality of the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act [PDF] – January 2015

Medical Illustration of a D&E Dismemberment Abortion

Testimony of Anthony Levatino, M.D. (May 2013) before U.S. House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice [PDF]

“Dialation and evacuation” from the textbook Management of Unintended and Abnormal Pregnancy published by the National Abortion Federation, 2009. [PDF]