Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., introduced a bill on Wednesday that would make it illegal to dispose of fetal remains in public waterways.
"Tossing unborn remains into our water systems is barbaric, and if the American public knew about it they would be disgusted and horrified," Banks said in a statement obtained by The Daily Wire.
"This brutal reality is made possible by even more brutal abortion laws," he continued. "If Congressional Democrats get their way and legalize abortion till the moment of birth, nationwide, this far too common practice would become even more widespread."
The Respectful Treatment of Unborn Remains Act of 2022 would prohibit abortionists from putting fetal remains or medical waste associated with abortions in any kind of device — like a toilet, sink, or disposal — that connects to a public water system.
Banks said the "commonsense" legislation would "restore a small piece of dignity to the victims of abortion," according to The Daily Wire.
Banks' office reportedly referenced the anti-abortion organization Live Action's reporting on abortion providers in the Detroit, Michigan area, who admitted to dumping aborted babies down garbage disposals.
Violations of fetal disposition laws have been discovered in a number of states, including Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Michigan, Indiana, Texas, and Utah, according to a report from the Charlotte Lozier Institute, an anti-abortion think tank.
Among the violations were sending fetal remains down sanitary sewers, failure to disinfect containers, storing remains in refrigerators, and disposing of them in solid waste landfills.
"For many years, we have documented reports from across the country about the atrocious ways abortionists dispose of the bodies of unborn babies," Cathie Humbarger, the founder of Reprotection, Inc., told The Daily Wire. "We grieve the loss of these children, and the emotional and physical trauma their mothers often experience after their abortion."
"Until we can prevent these deaths, we must treat their bodies with respect just as we do the deceased bodies of every other human," she added.
The Lozier Institute report found that "numerous fetal disposition methods have been employed as legal solutions by abortion facilities and waste disposal companies" as a result of "the variability and archaic status of some state laws."
In some states, flushing fetal body parts through the garbage disposal leading to the sewer system, dumping the remains into an auger with medical waste and grinding them together, and having the remains taken across state lines to another state's dumpsters are legal disposition methods.
"Stericycle, the largest known waste disposal company willing to transport and dispose of the remains of human fetal parts after abortion, has been found by at least two state departments to be in violation of state regulations specifically governing fetal disposition," according to the Lozier report.
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