Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed into law today HB 519 which would ban D&E abortions. The only exception to the ban would be in the case of preventing the “irreversible physical impairment” of the mother, reports the Associated Press.
D&E abortions typically take place between 13 and 24 weeks of pregnancy, and the method is brutal. It has often been referred to as “dismemberment abortion,” because this is essentially what happens to the preborn child in the womb during such a procedure. Former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino explains in the video below:
The AP reports:
Diane Derzis, who owns Mississippi’s lone abortion clinic, has said the Jackson Women’s Health Organization does abortions up to 15 weeks’ gestation, and doesn’t typically use the procedure.
Derzis may not use the procedure at her facility, but that doesn’t mean her abortion center is safe. Live Action News’ Cassy Fiano previously reported of Derzis:
… Jackson Women’s Health isn’t the first abortion clinic Derzis has owned. She also owned a clinic in Alabama, which was forcibly closed after three patients were hospitalized, and the clinic was found to have 76 pages’ worth of health code violations.
As the suction aspiration method is usually used in first trimester abortions, it would likely be unaffected by the state ban. The Tribune notes that similar laws have been blocked in Kansas and Oklahoma, though “West Virginia lawmakers overrode a governor’s veto last month to pass a similar law.”
Planned Parenthood wasted no time voicing objections to the ban. Their executive vice president Dawn Laguens remarked:
This bill is not based in medicine. Governor Bryant just signed a clear attack on women’s health care as part of a plan to ban abortion across the board. Planned Parenthood will continue to fight to protect the rights of our patients and their access to safe medical care, no matter what.
One news outlet, WAPT, described the ban in no uncertain terms, saying, “It would prohibit abortions extracting a live fetus in pieces using instruments such as clamps and forceps.”
