Abortion ban is challenged

An abortion rights group is challenging Kansas’ firstin-the-nation ban on a second-trimester procedure that antiabortion activists describe as dismembering a fetus.

The lawsuit filed in Shawnee County District Court by the Center for Reproductive Rights asks the court to declare the law unconstitutional and block it from taking effect in July.

It was filed on behalf of two doctors at the Center for Women’s Health in Overland Park.

The lawsuit says the procedure is the most commonly used method of ending a pregnancy after 14 weeks, and is used in 95% of second-trimester abortions nationwide.