Kansas Halts 2nd-Trimester Abortion Ban

The Kansas Court of Appeals on Friday ruled to halt the state’s ban on a common second-trimester abortion method. The ban would have been the first of its kind nationwide. First enacted in 2015, the law would have kept doctors from using forceps on a live fetus in order to remove it in parts from a uterus. The Center for Reproductive Rights has called the method the safest and most common procedure to end second-trimester pregnancies. A lawsuit at the root of the ruling was filed by two abortion providers, who argued that the ban would be an unconstitutional burden on women seeking abortions. The appeals court decision was announced on the 43rd anniversary of landmark Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade.