Lawmakers and activists are voicing support for a bill that would protect unborn children from a form of second trimester abortion that involves dismembering the bodies of unborn babies.
Introduced by Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Florida, along with Pro-Life Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Bob Onder, R-Missouri, on April 30, the Dismemberment Abortion Ban Act of 2026 would prohibit dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortion procedures in the United States.
The bill protects women from being prosecuted, as only abortionists would be prosecuted under the act and not women who have abortions. Abortionists who knowingly perform these abortions would face fines and/or imprisonment for up to two years, according to the legislation. Women who experienced trauma from these abortions would also have legal recourse to seek damages.
The 2003 Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act is the only federal law that prohibits a specific abortion procedure, leaving every other procedure unregulated. Lawmakers introduced similar legislation to ban dismemberment abortion in 2023.
Cammack, who is also mother to a newborn, described dismemberment abortion as “inhuman.”
“Under our current system, abortion procedures exist in a legal gray area with no federal standards and no accountability,” Cammack said. “Providers can perform inhumane extraction methods and face zero consequences. That ends now.”
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, who is introducing companion legislation in the Senate, described dismemberment abortions as “among the most brutal methods of abortion, accounting for around 80% of second-trimester abortions.”
“Our legislation would make performing a dismemberment abortion a criminal offense, with the doctor or healthcare provider who performs it liable to fines and up to two years in prison,” Rounds stated.
Supporters of the bill point out that unborn children in the second trimester can often feel pain.
“The fact that this horrifying procedure is still being done to children who can feel pain in the womb is why we need to enact the Dismemberment Abortion Ban Act,” said Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Mississippi, who introduced the companion legislation with Rounds.
Studies vary on exactly when unborn children can feel pain. There is some evidence suggesting they can feel pain as early as 12 weeks’ gestation, before the second trimester even begins, while babies delivered preterm as early as 21 weeks’ gestation have been documented to react to pain.
Jennie Bradley Lichter, president of March for Life Action and a practicing Catholic, voiced her support for the bill.
“March for Life Action thanks Rep. Cammack for this important piece of legislation that would stop the barbaric practice of tearing preborn babies apart limb from limb — which is often performed at a point in pregnancy when babies have the capacity to feel pain,” Lichter stated.
Hon. Marilyn Musgrave, vice president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, called the practice “barbaric,” noting that it “takes the lives of 60,000 to 70,000 developed babies every year.”
“Dismemberment abortions, the most common second trimester abortion method, ends the life of an unborn baby by tearing off her arms and legs, removing her torso, then crushing her tiny head,” Musgrave said.
Rep. Andy Harris, R-Maryland, co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus and a medical doctor who formerly worked at Johns Hopkins Hospital, said the practice “violates both medical ethics and human dignity.”
“As a physician, I believe the practice of medicine requires a commitment to protect and preserve human life, never to take it,” Harris said. “This legislation defends the sanctity of unborn life, holds providers who perform this procedure accountable, and recognizes rare medical emergencies in which a physician must intervene to save the life of the mother.”
Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Indiana, pointed out that the bill would “allow women to receive compensation for the harms done to them.”
“Medical providers that cause the slow, painful death of an unborn child ought to be held criminally responsible,” Stutzman said. “In addition, this bill allows women to seek damages for physical and psychological harm that often accompanies these horrific procedures.”
A 2026 peer-reviewed study by the Charlotte Lozier Institute documented the trauma that women often experience because of abortion. According to the study, nearly 25% of women who had abortions reported high levels of grief, depression, and regret; they also said they frequently thought of their aborted child.
Another recent study found that nearly 40% of women who suffer pregnancy loss from abortion or miscarriage experience persistent grief for about 20 years after.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus along with Harris, said the law “exposes the reality of abortion practices and protects unborn babies from the excruciating pain of being dismembered alive.”
“The truth is that unborn babies are society’s youngest patients: They deserve respect, love, and access to healing, life-affirming medical care and interventions,” he said.
