Texas AG Paxton Defends Alabama's Ban on ‘dismemberment' Abortions

AUSTIN — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to uphold Alabama's ban on "dismemberment" abortions, days after the Texas Senate gave preliminary approval to a similar ban. "It is a solemn day when we must fight not for human life, but for the minimum respect owed to human life in an already difficult situation," Paxton said in a prepared statement. "Dismemberment methods of abortion are callous, cold and demonstrate a complete lack of respect for human life. In a country where the horror of abortion has already become normalized, if this practice goes unregulated, the balance between women's reproductive rights and the risk of devaluing human life will be scattered to the wind."Opponents of the practice define "dismemberment" abortion as a procedure in which the fetus is killed when a physician uses medical instruments to remove it from a woman's uterus in pieces. Abortion providers say the phrase does not refer to a medical practice and instead plays to people's emotions.   Continue reading...