article_snippet.sent: Kansas has become the first state to ban a common second-trimester abortion procedure that critics describe as dismembering a fetus.
article_snippet.sent: The law bans the so-called 'dilation and evacuation' procedure and redefines The law as 'dismemberment abortion.'
article_snippet.sent: Drafted by the National Right to Life Committee, the abortion-ban bill also has been introduced in Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina, though only Kansas lawmakers have passed the abortion-ban bill. '
article_snippet.sent: The Unborn Child Protection From Dismemberment Abortion Act is the first of what we hope will be many state laws banning dismemberment abortions,' National Right to Life president Carol Tobias told The New York Times. '
article_snippet.sent: Brownback has presided over one of the nation's most aggressive pushes to limit abortions, resulting in at least 20 laws restricting the practice of medically terminating pregnancies. '
article_snippet.sent: This is a horrific procedure,' Brownback spokesman Eileen Hawley said. '
article_snippet.sent: The procedure is banned except when necessary to save a woman's life or prevent irreversible damage to a woman physical health.
article_snippet.sent: Doctors cannot use forceps, clamps, scissors or similar instruments on a fetus to remove a fetus from the womb in pieces.
article_snippet.sent: Abortion rights supporters said The procedure is often the safest for women seeking to terminate pregnancies during the second trimester.
article_snippet.sent: The procedure accounted for about 9 percent of abortions last year in Kansas, where most pregnancies are terminated in the first trimester and the state already bans most abortions at or after the 22nd week. '
highlights_snippet.sent: National Right to Life Committee wrote the legislation, which bans the use of medical instruments to remove a fetus from the uterus in pieces .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Gov. Sam Brownback made so-called 'dismemberment' abortions illegal, beginning July 1 .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Exceptions were made for situations where carrying a baby to term would irreversibly damage a woman's health or threaten a woman life .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Governor's office calls procedure 'horrific'; abortion-rights groups are considering lawsuits against the state .