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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 6, 2016
Contact: Nicole Stacy, [email protected] 202-223-8073

Archaic Laws, Weak Penalties in Many States Allow Horrific Abuses to Proliferate

Washington, D.C. – A new paper by Charlotte Lozier Institute associate scholar Kristi Burton Brown, J.D., examines U.S. laws and practices surrounding the disposition of bodies of aborted babies. Brown’s research shows widespread violations of existing laws in some states and weak or inadequate laws in others, allowing abortion facilities to dispose of babies’ bodies in ways that offend common standards of decency and put the health of the communities where they operate at risk.

“With roughly 1.06 million abortions in the nation every year, abortion facilities have a need to dispose of approximately 2,700 baby bodies every day,” writes Brown. “Because of this, clinics want disposal methods to be broad, cheap, and accessible. The state laws governing fetal disposition are often archaic and scattered throughout a variety of state codes, regulations, and statutes. In a number of states, the laws are so broad that it is legal to grind the bodies of aborted babies in the garbage disposal and send the remains through the sewage system or to incinerate entire containers of baby body parts at once.”

Brown concludes, “There is no long-lasting victory in passing laws that merely require abortion facilities to dispose of preborn children in more humane ways…we must ensure that our laws are more than ‘feel-good’ solutions.”

Some of the shocking practices cited in the report, Fetal Disposition: The Abuses and the Law, include:

• Disposing of aborted babies’ bodies down a garbage disposal emptying into the public sewer
• Dumping babies’ bodies in dumpsters and landfills
• Storing five months’ worth of bodies in a freezer

The report concludes by outlining several recommendations:

• Require the remains of every baby, at every age, to be individually buried or cremated
• Categorize fetal remains as “human being” or “human body” instead of medical waste
• Require abortion facilities to obtain the mother’s informed consent to choose cremation or burial
• Require regular state inspections of abortion facilities and stronger penalties for noncompliance
• Enact limits on the number of bodies that may be stored at an abortion facility, and for how long

“This heartbreaking report provides yet another sobering reminder of the brutality of abortion. It exposes an industry’s callous disregard not only for the humanity of the unborn, but also for the safety of the community in its pursuit of cheap solutions to the problem of thousands of bodies,” said Chuck Donovan, president of the Charlotte Lozier Institute. “The horrific abuses detailed in this report prove the industry puts its bottom line first and cannot be trusted to police itself. States must enact stronger laws and hold abortionists accountable for violating them.”

Donovan continued, “Abortion robs thousands of precious children of their lives every day. Until that injustice can be ended once and for all, the very least our society can do is to give unborn babies back a small part of the dignity they have been denied by ensuring that their remains are treated with respect – not like so many used syringes to be tossed in the garbage.”

Charlotte Lozier Institute is a hub for research and public policy analysis on some of the most pressing issues facing the United States and nations around the world. CLI’s American Reports Series presents analysis of issues affecting the United States at the national level. These reports are intended to provide insight into various issues concerning life, science, and bioethics.

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