Gov. Bryant Signs Bill Banning Second-Trimester Abortions

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi’s governor has signed into law a ban on a commonly used second-trimester abortion procedure, setting the state up for a possible legal challenge.

Gov. Phil Bryant signed the law Friday that outlaws a procedure called “dilation and evacuation” unless it is necessary to prevent a woman’s irreversible physical impairment.

The bill’s supporters describe the procedure as dismemberment and say it’s unnecessarily cruel.

Diane Derzis, who owns Mississippi’s lone abortion clinic, says the state is inviting an expensive lawsuit. Her clinic does abortions up to 15 weeks’ gestation.

Dilation and evacuation is done in the second 12 weeks of pregnancy.

State courts have blocked similar laws in Kansas and Oklahoma. West Virginia lawmakers overrode a governor’s veto last month to pass a similar law.