A federal judge blocked implementation of an Alabama law banning dismemberment abortions Friday, ruling that the law, and another abortion restriction passed, will likely be found unconstitutional.
The laws will ban a commonly used second trimester abortion procedure and prevent abortion clinics from opening within 2,000 feet of K-8 public schools. Republican Gov. Robert Bentley signed the measures into law in May, but Judge Myron Thompson issued a preliminary injunction against both on the grounds they would constitute an “undue burden” on a woman’s “right” to kill her unborn child.
The procedure is referred to as “dismemberment” because it involves an abortionist reaching into a woman’s womb with a metal instrument such as a forceps and removing a living fetus piece by piece. After most of the body parts are removed, the abortionist uses a different tool to scrape out the rest of the remains. (RELATED: Abortionists Took A Beating This Week In State Legislatures)
Judge Myron Thompson wrote in her decision that the new restrictions would probably force two of Alabama’s busiest abortion clinics to close, and thus constitute undue burden. Those clinics conduct 70 percent of abortions in the state, and are the only clinics in the state where a woman can get a late-term abortion.
“The availability of abortions in Alabama would be significantly reduced, and abortions beginning at 15 weeks would become almost wholly unavailable,” she wrote in the opinion.
Courts so far have blocked similar laws in Kansas and Oklahoma, which join a number of states moving on this kind of proposal.
“Alabama children should be protected by law from being torn limb from limb,” Alabama Citizens for Life president Bill Klein said in a statement regarding the ruling. “No human should die this way in a civilized society. It shows a total disrespect for the sanctity of human life.”
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