Charles Perry, Stephanie Klick lead Texas’ move to end ‘Dismemberment abortions’

State Senator Charles Perry (R-Lubbock) and Representative Stephanie Klick (R-Fort Worth) filed the major Pro-Life bill for the 85th Session of the Texas Legislature, the Dismemberment Abortion Ban.  Senator Perry and Representative Klick have both achieved high rankings as Pro-Life legislators and are capable bill authors.  The legislation will ban the torturous practice of dismemberment abortion, a procedure that ends the life of an unborn child by removing his or her limbs while his or her heart is still beating.

Texas Right to Life, the oldest and largest statewide Pro-Life organization in Texas, stands with Senator Perry and Representative Klick in prioritizing the Dismemberment Abortion Ban.  Elizabeth Graham, Director of Texas Right to Life, insists that the Dismemberment Abortion Ban must reach the governor’s desk this year:

The Dismemberment Abortion Ban is the only Pro-Life measure filed that will actually stop abortion and protect pregnant women and their children.  Other bills offer life-affirming nuances, but SB 415 and the companion, HB 844, directly save lives while addressing the criminal activity of the abortion industry documented over the last two years.

photo: 14 week fetus photo/ Your Pregnancy week by week

In the recent undercover videos of top Planned Parenthood officials, Deborah Nucatola, Senior Director of Medical Services, admitted that the use of the dismemberment abortion technique was purely a matter of provider preference and served no known medical advantage.  In other words, dismemberment only served to pad the bottom line of abortion facilities so that the organs and tissues of abortion victims could be harvested and sold for profit.

In Stenberg v. Carhart, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy recognized the inhumaneness of dismembering the unborn: “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.”

When the Dismemberment Abortion Ban measure was overwhelmingly adopted in the 2016 Republican Party Platform, Pro-Lifers and activists signaled to statewide leadership that they will not be satisfied with symbolic “life”-sounding legislation that regulates what happens to the victims of abortion after their deaths.  Further, this ban earned the most support among the Pro-Life policy planks when delegates to the Republican Convention voted plank by plank.

Six other states have already banned this practice, which is never medically necessary: Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and West Virginia.

Texas Right to Life commends Senator Perry and Representative Klick for again leading the effort to protect the most vulnerable Texans—born and unborn.  Both Perry and Klick share our sense of urgency about ending abortion by dismemberment so that 110,000+ unborn children are not victims of inaction by the 85th Legislature.

Founded in 1973, Texas Right to Life is the oldest and largest Pro-Life organization in Texas.  Recognized as the statewide leader of the Pro-Life movement in Texas, TXRTL works through legislation and education to protect the rights of the unborn, persons with disabilities, the sick, the elderly, and the vulnerable through legal, peaceful, and prayerful means.

20 week baby photo/ screenshot of YouTube video