Gov. Brownback to re-enact signing of Kansas anti-abortion measure

TOPEKA – Gov. Sam Brownback plans to have four ceremonies across Kansas to re-enact his signing of the nation’s first ban on a procedure that critics describe as dismembering a fetus.

The Republican governor’s events Tuesday are at a Catholic church education building in Lenexa and Catholic high schools in Pittsburg, Wichita and Hays.

Brownback signed the measure April 7, and it takes effect in July. Oklahoma enacted such a law days later.

Both states’ laws ban doctors from using forceps, clamps, scissors or similar instruments on a live fetus to remove it from the womb in pieces.

Such instruments are used in dilation and evacuation procedures performed during the second trimester.

Abortion rights supporters say such procedures are often the safest for women seeking to terminate pregnancies during the second trimester.

This story was originally published April 27, 2015 at 2:16 PM with the headline "Gov. Brownback to re-enact signing of Kansas anti-abortion measure."