Oklahoma becomes second state to ban dismemberment abortions

By: American Decency Staff

Oklahoma has become the second state in the nation to ban the procedure of dismemberment abortions, the most common form of second-trimester abortion.

Gov. Mary Fallin signed the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act into law late last night, protecting the state's unborn babies from the process of dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortion, in which unborn babies torn apart limb-from-limb.

The bill, which takes effect on November 1, passed the state legislature by lopsided majorities, clearing the state House of Representatives 84-2 in February, and the state Senate last week by a 37-4 margin.

"Governor Mary Fallin is to be commended for her quick action in signing into law the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act, which will prohibit this barbaric inhumanity in our state," said Tony Lauinger, the chairman of Oklahomans For Life.

Her signature comes just one week after Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed the first-in-the-nation ban on dismemberment abortions. The Kansas state Housepassed the groundbreaking legislation by 98-26 vote on March 25, the date Christians traditionally celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation.

National pro-life leaders have made stamping out dismemberment of the unborn a national legislative and educational focus.

Responding to the victory in Oklahoma, National Right to Life Committee President Carol Tobias said focusing on this process “has the power to change how the public views the gruesome reality of abortion in the United States." The NRLC's Director of State Legislation Mary Spaulding Balch, said that by the point a D&E abortion would take place in the second trimester, the unborn child already has “a beating heart, brain waves, and every organ system in place."

D&E abortion accounts for approximately 96 percent of all second trimester abortions, according to the National Abortion Federation – an estimated 100,000 abortions a year.

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