LETTER: State Sen. Bob Mensch Calls Dismemberment Abortions 'Inhumane'

The following letter by State Sen. Bob Mensch is a response to a letter to the editor published in the Patch over the weekend ('Maintain a Woman's Right To Choose,' by Kimberly McCallum, June 25). To submit a letter to the editor at Patch, please email justin.heinze@patch.com.

Dear Editor,

Recently a letter was submitted to the Patch regarding Senate Bill 3. As is often the case, with letters like this, it’s not always what is said, but rather what is not said. The author pointed out my “yea” vote, but failed to mention that SB 3 passed 32-18 in the Senate, in a bi partisan fashion. Similarly, last year the House approved this same bill with the vote of 132-65; again along bi-partisan lines.

The legislators with whom I’ve discussed this issue are concerned, as I am, for the inhumane abortion process referred to as dismemberment. It’s suggested by the author that the process is not referred to as dismemberment, but rather dilation and evacuation (D&E). But every definition I’ve read describing the D&E procedure includes the term dismemberment. One cannot define D&E without the word dismemberment. And what a gruesome process it is. Look and learn for yourself. Take a look on the web, and you’ll learn that D&E requires the removal of each limb, one at a time, from the living baby’s body while it is still in the womb, and then the skull needs to be crushed to complete the removal.

Further, most of the medical information on D&E/dismemberment suggests it is quite risky for the woman. In a humane and human society such as ours, where we are concerned for unusual pain with capital punishment, how can we be so cavalier about the pain inflicted on a 5 month old living fetus through
dismemberment? Dismemberment abortions are inhumane.

State Sen. Bob Mensch

Patch file photo