By Dave Andrusko
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson
And soon there will be seven. This afternoon, the Arkansas Senate joined the Arkansas House in overwhelmingly passing the Arkansas Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act.
The act, which pro-life Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has five days to sign, bans the grotesque practice of dismemberment abortions.
Six states– Kansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana–currently forbid an abortion “technique” that uses sharp metal clamps and scissors to crush, tear and pulverize living unborn human beings, to rip heads and legs off of tiny torsos until the defenseless child bleeds to death.
The Senate vote today was 25-6. The January 23 House vote was equally lopsided–78-10.
Arkansas Right to Life Executive Director Rose Mimms said the bill was her organization’s number one priority for 2017. Arkansas Right to Life is NRLC’s state affiliate.
“NRLC applauds the efforts of pro-life leaders in Arkansas who are a voice for the voiceless to stop the barbaric method of slicing up living unborn children,” said Ingrid Duran, director of NRLC’s Department of State Legislation. “They are building a culture of protecting the lives of the vulnerable.”
Arkansas State Rep. Andy Mayberry
Pro-life Arkansans are on a roll. They have passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act”; a law requiring a 48-hour period of reflection for abortion-minded women; a measure requiring abortionists to be in the same room as the pregnant woman when she receives chemical abortifacients (so-called webcam abortions are premised around just the opposite), to name just a few.
In addition, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, “There were 4 abortion-providing facilities in Arkansas in 2014, and 3 of those were clinics.”
When the measure was introduced in the House, State Rep. Andy Mayberry, who introduced HB1032, described dismemberment abortions as “barbaric and cruel and savage” that should not be embraced by a “civilized society.
For its part, Planned Parenthood says the legislation is among the “extreme and ideological attacks” on women,” according to the Associated Press. Victoria Lee, who testified against the bill on behalf of the ACLU, accused supporters of “using inflammatory language to describe the procedure rather than a scientific description,” the AP’s Kelly P. Kissel reported.
State Rep. Robin Lundstrum asked Lee: “Do you ever represent the civil liberties of the baby that’s being dismembered?”
Lundstrum added “We’re discussing the dismembering of a child… It’s not a walk in the park. This is what we’re talking about.”
Dr. Richard Wyatt, a gynecologist from Little Rock, testified in favor of HB1032 . Dr. Wyatt said in a dismemberment abortion, the abortionist “pull[s] out the baby’s pieces,” Kissel reported.
He told the committee the baby’s body must be reconstructed “outside the womb ‘like a puzzle’ to ensure all of it has been removed and reduce the risk of infection.”