diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4acd7436..1c815eb9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -89,11 +89,22 @@ The following options are currently supported:
 - `smart`:  if `true`, straight quotes will be made curly, `--` will
   be changed to an en dash, `---` will be changed to an em dash, and
   `...` will be changed to ellipses.
-- `safe`: if `true`, raw HTML will not be passed through to HTML
-  output (it will be replaced by comments), and potentially unsafe
-  URLs in links and images (those beginning with `javascript:`,
-  `vbscript:`, `file:`, and with a few exceptions `data:`) will
-  be replaced with empty strings.
+- `safe`: if `true`, raw HTML will be passed through the `sanitize`
+  function before inserting in the target document. Image urls and 
+  links will be passed true the `isUrlSafe` function to determin if they are considered safe.
+- `sanitize`: When the `safe`option is `true` this function will be used to 
+  sanitize the raw html fragments. The function will get the html 
+  (HtmlBlock or HtmlInline) AST node as parameter and should return 
+  the html string replacement as output. The AST node will have a
+  `literal` property containing the raw html to be sanitized.
+  Default implementation is: `function(node) { return '<!-- raw HTML omitted -->'; }`
+- `isUrlSafe`: When the `safe` option is `true` this function will be used to
+  verify if image and link url's are considered safe. The function gets the 
+  string containing the image source or link url as parameter and should return
+  a truthy value if the url is safe. If unsafe, the src and href attributes 
+  will be omitted from the output html.
+  Default: Strings beginning with `javascript:`, `vbscript:`, `file:`, and 
+  with a few exceptions `data:` are considered to be 'unsafe' and will be omitted. 
 
 It is also possible to override the `escape` and `softbreak`
 properties of a renderer.  So, to make soft breaks render as hard
diff --git a/lib/common.js b/lib/common.js
index 605a3bf7..ba128a2c 100644
--- a/lib/common.js
+++ b/lib/common.js
@@ -92,6 +92,30 @@ var escapeXml = function(s, preserve_entities) {
     }
 };
 
+if (typeof Object.assign != 'function') {
+  (function () {
+    Object.assign = function (target) {
+      'use strict';
+      if (target === undefined || target === null) {
+        throw new TypeError('Cannot convert undefined or null to object');
+      }
+
+      var output = Object(target);
+      for (var index = 1; index < arguments.length; index++) {
+        var source = arguments[index];
+        if (source !== undefined && source !== null) {
+          for (var nextKey in source) {
+            if (source.hasOwnProperty(nextKey)) {
+              output[nextKey] = source[nextKey];
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      }
+      return output;
+    };
+  })();
+}
+
 module.exports = { unescapeString: unescapeString,
                    normalizeURI: normalizeURI,
                    escapeXml: escapeXml,
@@ -99,5 +123,6 @@ module.exports = { unescapeString: unescapeString,
                    OPENTAG: OPENTAG,
                    CLOSETAG: CLOSETAG,
                    ENTITY: ENTITY,
-                   ESCAPABLE: ESCAPABLE
+                   ESCAPABLE: ESCAPABLE,
+                   objectAssign: Object.assign
                  };
diff --git a/lib/html.js b/lib/html.js
index 7f274902..3df37ba9 100644
--- a/lib/html.js
+++ b/lib/html.js
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 "use strict";
 
-var escapeXml = require('./common').escapeXml;
+var common = require('./common');
+var escapeXml = common.escapeXml;
+var objectAssign = common.objectAssign;
+
 
 // Helper function to produce an HTML tag.
 var tag = function(name, attrs, selfclosing) {
@@ -25,9 +28,8 @@ var reHtmlTag = /\<[^>]*\>/;
 var reUnsafeProtocol = /^javascript:|vbscript:|file:|data:/i;
 var reSafeDataProtocol = /^data:image\/(?:png|gif|jpeg|webp)/i;
 
-var potentiallyUnsafe = function(url) {
-    return reUnsafeProtocol.test(url) &&
-        !reSafeDataProtocol.test(url);
+var isUrlSafe = function(url) {
+    return !reUnsafeProtocol.test(url) || reSafeDataProtocol.test(url);
 };
 
 var renderNodes = function(block) {
@@ -61,6 +63,14 @@ var renderNodes = function(block) {
 
     if (options.time) { console.time("rendering"); }
 
+    function handleHtml(htmlNode){
+        if (options.safe) {
+            out(options.sanitize(htmlNode));
+        } else {
+            out(htmlNode.literal);
+        }
+    }
+
     while ((event = walker.next())) {
         entering = event.entering;
         node = event.node;
@@ -98,11 +108,7 @@ var renderNodes = function(block) {
             break;
 
         case 'HtmlInline':
-            if (options.safe) {
-                out('<!-- raw HTML omitted -->');
-            } else {
-                out(node.literal);
-            }
+            handleHtml(node);
             break;
 
         case 'CustomInline':
@@ -115,7 +121,7 @@ var renderNodes = function(block) {
 
         case 'Link':
             if (entering) {
-                if (!(options.safe && potentiallyUnsafe(node.destination))) {
+                if (!options.safe || options.isUrlSafe(node.destination)) {
                     attrs.push(['href', esc(node.destination, true)]);
                 }
                 if (node.title) {
@@ -130,8 +136,7 @@ var renderNodes = function(block) {
         case 'Image':
             if (entering) {
                 if (disableTags === 0) {
-                    if (options.safe &&
-                         potentiallyUnsafe(node.destination)) {
+                    if (options.safe && !options.isUrlSafe(node.destination)) {
                         out('<img src="" alt="');
                     } else {
                         out('<img src="' + esc(node.destination, true) +
@@ -237,11 +242,7 @@ var renderNodes = function(block) {
 
         case 'HtmlBlock':
             cr();
-            if (options.safe) {
-                out('<!-- raw HTML omitted -->');
-            } else {
-                out(node.literal);
-            }
+            handleHtml(node);
             cr();
             break;
 
@@ -278,7 +279,7 @@ function HtmlRenderer(options){
         // set to "<br />" to make them hard breaks
         // set to " " if you want to ignore line wrapping in source
         escape: escapeXml,
-        options: options || {},
+        options: objectAssign({ sanitize: function() { return '<!-- raw HTML omitted -->'; }, isUrlSafe: isUrlSafe }, options),
         render: renderNodes
     };
 }
diff --git a/test/sanitize.txt b/test/sanitize.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ab21f627
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/sanitize.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+## Sanitization options 
+
+A safe html block should be preserved
+
+```````````````````````````````` example
+Should be preserved:
+
+<table>
+
+</table>
+.
+<p>Should be preserved:</p>
+<table>
+</table>
+````````````````````````````````
+
+An unsafe html block should be omitted
+```````````````````````````````` example
+should be omitted:
+
+<script>
+</script>
+.
+<p>should be omitted:</p>
+<!-- unsafe html omitted -->
+````````````````````````````````
+
+A safe inline html should be preserved
+```````````````````````````````` example
+Should be preserved: <table></table>
+.
+<p>Should be preserved: <table></table></p>
+````````````````````````````````
+
+An unsafe inline html should be omitted
+```````````````````````````````` example
+Should be omitted: <script></script>
+.
+<p>Should be omitted: <!-- unsafe html omitted --><!-- unsafe html omitted --></p>
+````````````````````````````````
+
+An safe url should be preserved:
+```````````````````````````````` example
+Should be preserved: ![image](https://saved-by-the-bell)
+.
+<p>Should be preserved: <img src="https://saved-by-the-bell" alt="image" /></p>
+````````````````````````````````
diff --git a/test/test.js b/test/test.js
index a672e3ce..3af4abaa 100755
--- a/test/test.js
+++ b/test/test.js
@@ -39,6 +39,12 @@ var cursor = {
 };
 
 var writer = new commonmark.HtmlRenderer();
+var writerSanitized = new commonmark.HtmlRenderer({safe: true, isUrlSafe: function(url){ return url === 'https://saved-by-the-bell'; }, sanitize: function(htmlFragment) { 
+    if(htmlFragment.literal === '<table>' || htmlFragment.literal === '</table>'){
+       return htmlFragment.literal;
+    }else{
+        return '<!-- unsafe html omitted -->';
+    } }});
 var reader = new commonmark.Parser();
 var readerSmart = new commonmark.Parser({smart: true});
 
@@ -154,6 +160,10 @@ specTests('test/smart_punct.txt', results, function(z) {
         return writer.render(readerSmart.parse(z));
     });
 
+specTests('test/sanitize.txt', results, function(z){
+        return writerSanitized.render(reader.parse(z));
+    });
+
 // pathological cases
 cursor.write('Pathological cases:\n');