Kansas Bill Would Restrict Late-Term Abortions

Kansas lawmakers are considering new regulations to restrict late-term abortions in the state once know as capital of the procedure, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported Thursday. The House adopted the sweeping regulations Wednesday, with final action on expected Thursday. If it passes, the bill will go to the Senate.

State Rep. Lance Kinzer, an Olathe Republican and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told the newspaper that the multifaceted reform bill would prevent doctors from picking up for George Tiller, a Wichita abortion clinic physician who was murdered in 2009. Tiller's clinic specialized in abortion of fetuses in the last three months of pregnancy.

"Kansas will never be the late-term capital of the United States," Kinzer said. "This bill makes this a practical impossibility.”

Under the bill, the Kansas attorney general, a district attorney, or a county attorney could prosecute violators in the county where the abortion happened. In the past, jurisdictional conflicts stopped criminal investigations.