Abortion foes push new bills at state level

NEW YORK (AP) - Buoyed by conservative gains in the November election, foes of abortion are mobilizing on behalf of bills in several state legislatures that would further curtail women's access to the procedure.

On both sides of the debate, activists are highlighting their hopes and concerns in conjunction with today's 42nd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 that established a nationwide right to abortion. Since then, there have been more than 50 million abortions in the U.S.

Notable among the state-level bills is a first-of-its-kind measure being drafted in Kansas, with the backing of the National Right to Life Committee, which would ban doctors from using forceps, tongs or other medical implements to dismember a living fetus in the womb to complete an abortion.

Proponents have titled the bill the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act and say it targets a procedure used in about 8 percent of abortions in Kansas.

"Dismemberment abortion kills a baby by tearing her apart limb from limb," said National Right to Life's director of state legislation, Mary Spaulding Balch, who hopes the Kansas bill will be emulated in other states.

Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri has vowed to fight the bill "every step of the way."

"Kansas women are smart enough to make their own decisions about their families and their lives," said a Planned Parenthood spokeswoman, Elise Higgins.