TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Kansas became the first state Tuesday to ban a common second-trimester abortion procedure that critics describe as dismembering a fetus.
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, a strong abortion opponent, signed a bill imposing the ban, and the new law takes effect July 1. He and the National Right to Life Committee, which drafted the measure, said they hope Kansas’ example spurs other states to enact such laws. Already, the measure also has been introduced in Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina.
“This law has the power to transform the landscape of abortion policy in the United States,” committee president Carol Tobias said in a statement.
Two abortion rights groups that operate Kansas clinics with abortion services, Trust Women and Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, said they’re considering challenging the new law in court.
“We will become a bellwether for future introductions of this bill in the states,” said Laura McQuade, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood chapter.