LENEXA, Kan. — Kansas Governor Sam Brownback will visit four cities in Kansas Tuesday morning to sign a bill that will make Kansas the first state in the nation to ban a controversial abortion procedure.
Gov. Brownback officially signed the bill three weeks ago, but he is visiting different cities to re-enact the signing. The list of cities includes Lenexa, Pittsburg, Wichita and Hays.
The bill in effect bans doctors from performing a controversial abortion procedure that is usually done in the second trimester.
Currently women in Kansas can get an abortion up until they are 22 weeks of pregnant, but abortion rights advocates said they fear the new bill in effect ban abortions after 14 weeks of pregnancy unless the mother’s life is in danger.
The new bill would only allow abortions later into the pregnancy if the woman is near death in the operating room. A doctor who claims that a pregnant woman risks death or an irreversible handicap without the procedure is no longer good enough to perform this particular type of abortion.
Abortion providers have said that they intend to challenge the new law in court because it affects nearly 8 percent of all abortions performed in Kansas.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has asked the legislature for half a million dollars in taxpayer money to defend the issue before a judge.