Kansas has become the first state to ban a method of abortion commonly used in the second trimester of pregnancy.
Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a so-called “dismemberment” law which restricts doctors from “knowingly dismembering a living unborn child and extracting such unborn child one piece at a time from the uterus.”
That procedure is commonly referred to as dilation and extraction, in which surgical instruments are used to remove a fetus from a woman’s uterus. It’s typically used in the second trimester of pregnancy. Abortions earlier in pregnancy can be performed via medication abortion or through a procedure called vacuum aspiration.
Abortion opponents say they hope Kansas’ law will be the first of many such state laws, while abortion rights advocates — who oppose the law — have threatened to challenge it in court. While the Supreme Court has banned partial birth abortion, they argue dilation and extraction is a different procedure that is allowed under the court’s Roe v. Wade ruling.
Kansas has already banned abortions past 22 weeks of pregnancy — about midway through the second trimester. About 9 percent of all abortions in the state are performed using the dilation and extraction procedure.
“Proud to sign SB95 protecting life at its most vulnerable stage with bipartisan support,” Brownback tweeted Tuesday after signing the ban.
