NATCHEZ — A bill that would limit the kinds of abortions that can be performed in Mississippi has cleared the state House.

Rep. Sam Mims, R-McComb, whose district covers part of Adams County, sponsored the measure, House Bill 519.

The bill would make illegal the use of what it terms “dismemberment abortion,” which is defined as purposely dismembering a, “living unborn child and extract him or her one piece at a time from the uterus through use of clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors or similar instruments that, through the convergence of two rigid levers, slice, crush, and/or grasp a portion of the unborn child’s body to cut or rip it off.”

The legislation specifically exempts the woman seeking the abortion from prosecution, as well as nurses, technicians or other employees who are not a physician, but it does call for physicians who perform such an abortion to appear before the State Board of Medical Licensure to determine if the law has been violated.

Mims said statistics show approximately 900 abortions that meet the criteria for “dismemberment abortion” were performed in 2014, the last year for which data was available. The procedure is usually used between 11 and 20 weeks gestation.

“We have statistics and pictures showing us pictures of those babies being developed, having arms and legs and fingers and toes,” Mims said. “They are actually having to tear the members off the body of the baby to perform the abortion, and we know after last year’s Planned Parenthood scandal, this legislation was needed.

“We believe life begins at conception, and this is a baby they are tearing up. We don’t want Planned Parenthood or any other type of organization like that to start selling parts of our babies that are aborted here in Mississippi.”

Mississippi Right to Life President Barbara Whitehead praised the House of Representatives for passing the legislation.

“Dismemberment abortion is unimaginably cruel and has no place in Mississippi,” Whitehead said. “We look forward to joining the states of Kansas and Oklahoma in passing this strong pro-life legislation.”

Abortion rights groups did not immediately comment on the measure Friday.