Kansas AG files notice of appeal over judge’s block of abortion ban

TOPEKA — Attorney General Derek Schmidt filed a notice of appeal Wednesday after a Shawnee County judge blocked a new law restricting a type of abortion in Kansas last week.

Judge Larry Hendricks ordered last week that a ban on a type of abortion common in the second trimester could not be enforced while the law faces a challenge in court. Schmidt filed a notice Wednesday that he would appeal that order to the Kansas Court of Appeals.

Gov. Sam Brownback signed the law, the first of its kind in the nation, in April. It restricted physicians from performing a type of abortion known as dilation and evacuation and prompted a legal challenge from a pair of Overland Park physicians, Herbert Hodes and Traci Lynn Nauser.

SB 95, which was pushed by the anti-abortion group Kansans For Life, defines the procedure as “dismemberment” abortions. The procedure, which is considered a safe option for women during the second trimester, involves the use of forceps and other surgical tools.

In granting the order to block the law from taking effect, Hendricks said the plaintiffs had established a strong basis for their claim that “patients’ fundamental right to terminate a pregnancy will be unduly burdened if SB 95 goes into effect.”

Sen. Garrett Love, R-Montezuma, the bill’s sponsor, called the Shawnee County District Court’s decision “an unprecedented move” and said he strongly supports Schmidt’s appeal. “The U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear that states are able to put in place regulations on the abortion industry, which is exactly what SB 95 does,” Love said in an e-mail. “ … Kansans want to protect life at all stages and don’t want unborn babies to have their lives ended in this manner.”

Laura McQuade, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, called the bill “extreme, unconstitutional” in an e-mail and said it “risks women’s health by banning the safest method of second trimester abortion according to every major medical authority.”

She said she was confident that the restraining order would be upheld and that the law would ultimately be defeated by the courts.

This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 6:08 PM with the headline "Kansas AG files notice of appeal over judge’s block of abortion ban."