Shawnee County District Judge Larry Hendricks blocked a Kansas abortion law on the grounds that the state's constitution protects a woman's right to have an abortion separately from the U.S. constitution. Kansas' law had been the first in the nation to put a ban on a second-trimester abortion procedure that opponents call a "dismemberment abortion," involving the use of instruments like forceps, clamps, or scissors to remove a live fetus. The procedure is used in 95 percent of the nation's second-trimester abortions. If Hendricks' ruling is upheld, the Kansas Supreme Court could grant more protections on abortions than the U.S. Supreme Court.
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