The senator’s question was posed to the testifier: “Is it [dismemberment abortion] really as horrific as the other side makes it sound?”

The testifier—a former Nebraskan turned California abortionist—hesitated in her response.

The pause was pregnant with meaning. It was obvious that this abortionist was trained not to directly respond to such a question. After all, to answer this question directly would be to damage and damn any attempt at providing testimony that spins dismemberment abortion in a positive light.

After the hesitation, words were spoken. But the words were as boiler plate and topline messaging as it gets. They were the product of a canned answer intended to deflect the actual question and, through a verbal sleight of hand, redirect the conversation to another topic.

The abortionist’s response was: “Well, what’s important to remember is that dismemberment abortion is the safest form of abortion in the second trimester....”

No direct answer to the question. Just a pause, allowing a broken conscience not to accidentally tell the truth about abortion and instead find a sanitized answer to draw people’s attention elsewhere: safety.

Fortunately, that was not quite the end of the answer.

After more abortion talking points and doublespeak that would make George Orwell blush, the abortionist wrapped up her answer by saying that dismemberment abortion “is what it is.”

Such an answer might make one recall the infamous words of former President Bill Clinton: “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”

In this context of LB814, ‘it is what it is’ is about the closest thing you’ll find to an abortionist admitting to the brutality that is dismemberment abortion, a 21st century so-called “medical” procedure used between the 13th and 24th weeks of pregnancy to tear apart a living human being limb by limb in utero.

This weak admission of the horrific nature of dismemberment abortion—which Sen. Suzanne Geist of Lincoln is seeking to ban in Nebraska through LB814—was preceded by incredibly powerful testimony of two other women who were intimately involved in the abortion industry.
Immediately after Sen. Geist’s powerful opening statement to the Judiciary Committee, Dr. Kathi Aultman, a former Planned Parenthood medical director, provided expert medical testimony on the dismemberment abortion procedure. In addition to describing the way live unborn human babies are dismantled in the womb, Dr. Aultman discussed the importance of protecting the medical profession and its vocation of healing.

After her testimony, Dr. Aultman was asked why she left the abortion industry. She spoke about her firstborn. She noted that throughout her pregnancy she continued doing abortions because, even though she felt her baby was wanted, other babies were not wanted, and it was a woman’s right to choose to end her pregnancy. But that all changed after having her own child. At that point she came to see that fetuses were little people and their killing could not be justified. She began to view her work as mass murder, akin to the murders of the Holocaust.

Kristen New, a former abortion counselor, shared her experience of conversion after witnessing a dismemberment abortion. Kristen recounted watching the ultrasound as the abortionist was using forceps to grasp the baby’s leg. She detailed how the little baby pulled its leg away from the abortionist’s forceps and curled into a fetal position to further avoid the forceps. She could see the little fetus fighting for its life and realized the baby could feel pain. Within three months, Kristen left the abortion industry.
This tale of two testimonies is what captured the hearts and minds of those listening to the LB814 hearing.
On the one hand was the bland, milquetoast testimony offered by a current abortionist, unable and unwilling to face the facts of abortion. On the other hand was the transparent and impactful testimony of women who were deeply entrenched in the abortion industry and have come to see the beauty of human life—by the grace of God.
As the session is now over halfway over, your prayer and action are needed. Pray and fast this Lent that LB814 would be passed this legislative session. And do your part to speak up on behalf of the unborn by calling (or e-mailing) your state senator—and urge their support for LB814.