Oklahoma lawmakers pass ban on second-trimester abortion method

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/08/oklahoma-lawmakers-abortion-ban-second-trimester

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Oklahoma lawmakers have approved a ban on a common second-trimester abortion procedure that critics describe as dismembering a fetus.

The state senate voted 37-4 on Wednesday for the bill by Tulsa Republican Pam Peterson. It now goes to Republican governor Mary Fallin, who has previously signed several anti-abortion bills.

Under the bill, doctors cannot use forceps, clamps, scissors or similar instruments on a fetus to remove it from the womb in pieces. Such instruments are used in a dilation and evacuation procedure performed in the second trimester.

The bill would ban the procedure except when necessary to save a woman’s life or a serious health risk to the mother.

A similar measure was signed into law in Kansas on Wednesday.