Kentucky Effectively Bans Second Trimester Abortion Procedure

The state of Kentucky and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) were battling it out in court last week over the constitutionality of House Bill 454, which basically bans a second-trimester abortion procedure known as a dilation and evacuation (D&E).

First introduced into the legislature earlier this year, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin signed the bill into law in April 2018. The bill prohibits the “bodily dismemberment, crushing or human vivisection of the fetus when the probable post-fertilized age of the unborn child is 11 weeks or greater.”

As Gov. Bevin explains, “Here in Kentucky, we don’t believe you should be allowed to dismember a living child in the process of killing (that child).” Anyone in violation of this law is guilty of a Class D felony.

As expected, both the ACLU and Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK) oppose the new restriction. Christie Gillespie, President and CEO of PPINK, argued that “politicians, not doctors, are pushing for these restrictions, which undermine the ability of health care professionals to provide individualized care.”

The case is now in U.S. District Court, and it is expected that the state’s argument will be supported by federal case law and bolstered by the testimony of expert witnesses. The ACLU argues instead that the procedure is “safe” and “medically proven,” which justifies whatever abortion procedure is necessary.

A lot of procedures can be “medically proven,” but doesn’t mean that it is good or ethical to do.

A D&E abortion doesn’t resemble any sort of “safe,” “common” or ethical medical procedure. It’s a disgusting process where a preborn baby is pulled apart in the womb through the use of forceps, and the child’s remains reassembled outside so that the doctor can account for every part of the child. The process is especially horrifying because the preborn child is alive when this dismemberment begins.

If this sounds more like medieval torture than a medical procedure, that’s because it is and there is even an execution method that’s strikingly similar. It’s called being drawn and quartered, which is when a person convicted of treason or capital crimes during the Middle Ages in England was hanged (almost to the point of death), disemboweled and their limbs and head removed.

It’s a grotesque and barbaric practice that is better left in the annals of history than practiced in the modern day. Yet somehow, it has become appropriate to kill a preborn child like a medieval conspirator convicted of treason.

There is no excuse for such blatant disregard for the life of a preborn baby. Gov. Bevin and his administration have the right idea – ban the practice and require that the life of a child developing in the womb be treated with dignity and respect. Just because abortion is legal doesn’t mean it should be unnecessarily cruel.

That is why House Bill 454 is so important. It doesn’t say that an abortion procedure like D&E is illegal—instead the bill creates protections so that the lives of preborn children are treated with deference and cannot be dismembered while still alive. Gov. Bevin said it best, “We don’t believe in the torture and murder of small children.”

To those who disagree with Gov. Bevin, he has one thing to say. “Pound sand, that’s what I say. Let people in Kentucky make their own laws.”