Judge blocks Kansas ban on second trimester abortion procedure

[June 26, 2015]  By Fiona Ortiz
 
 (Reuters) - A Kansas judge on Thursday temporarily blocked a new state law from taking effect next week that would ban a common second trimester abortion procedure.

Lawmakers who supported the legislation banning the dilation and evacuation procedure had termed it "dismemberment abortion." The law was due to take effect on July 1, but was challenged by doctors from a clinic in Overland Park, Kansas.

Shawnee County District Court Judge Larry Hendricks granted an injunction allowing the abortion methods to continue to be used in Kansas while the case is being heard. The bill had been signed by Kansas Governor Sam Brownback in April.

"We think it reflects clearly established precedent that a law that bans the most common method of second trimester abortions is unconstitutional," said lawyer Genevieve Scott from the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents the doctors challenging the ban.
 

The bill lawmakers approved says the dilation and evacuation can result in the fetus being extracted in pieces. Supporters of the procedure say it is considered the safest way to terminate a pregnancy in the second trimester.

"Today's decision appears to be based on an unprecedented interpretation of the Kansas constitution," Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said in a statement.

Schmidt said the state's next steps had not been determined.

The plaintiffs in the case, Dr. Herbert Hodes and Dr. Traci Nauser, a father and daughter, run a clinic in Overland Park, one of three abortion providers in the state.

Scott, the lawyer, said the next step was to proceed to trial and prove the merits of the claim that the law is unconstitutional.

Dilation and evacuation is used in about 8 or 9 percent of abortions, while nearly 90 percent of abortions are performed in the first trimester, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights but whose research is cited by both sides in the debate.

The procedure is performed starting at about 15 weeks of pregnancy and is the most commonly used method of abortion in the second trimester, the lawsuit said.

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed a similar ban into law in mid-April. The Oklahoma law takes effect in November.

(Additional reporting by Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago and David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Lisa Lambert)

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