TOPEKA — The Kansas Supreme Court will hear arguments March 16 in a case challenging a law that bans a common second-trimester abortion procedure.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports two doctors have challenged a 2015 law that bans doctors from using forceps, tongs or other medical implements to dismember a fetus in the womb to complete an abortion.
A Shawnee County judge ruled the Kansas Constitution protects abortion rights independently of the U.S. Constitution and temporarily blocked the ban’s enforcement. An appeals court split on the issue, leaving the ban in place.
If the state Supreme Court agrees that the state constitution protects abortion rights, abortion opponents are concerned that state courts could reject abortion restrictions even if they’ve been upheld by federal courts.
