Michigan abortion foes can call procedure 'dismemberment' on ballot petitions
Anti-abortion advocates seeking to limit a common second-trimester abortion procedure in Michigan will be able to describe the procedure as dismemberment abortion as they gather signatures from the public for a 2020 ballot measure.
State canvassers on Wednesday approved a petition form for Michigan Values Life, a ballot committee backed by Right to Life of Michigan. The 100-word summary allowed for use on ballot petitions makes three references to dismemberment abortion to describe a procedure known in medical terms as dilation and evacuation, or D&E. The surgical process involves dilating the cervix and then removing the fetus with forceps.
Genevieve Marnon, legislative director for Right to Life of Michigan, supports using the word dismemberment, saying the dictionary definition really does mean to remove limbs, arms and legs. It is common, everyday language that everyone understands.
Under the ballot committees proposal, dismemberment abortion would be defined as an abortion in which the provider deliberately and intentionally uses any instrument, device or object to dismember a living fetus by disarticulating limbs or decapitating the head from the fetal torso and removing the dismembered fetal body parts from the uterus.
Read more: https://www.bridgemi.com/public-sector/michigan-abortion-foes-can-call-procedure-dismemberment-ballot-petitions