The Arkansas Legislature has approved a measure to ban a commonly used second-trimester abortion procedure, and the governor is expected to sign it into law.
The majority-GOP Senate voted 25-6 on Thursday to ban the procedure known as dilation and evacuation, a second trimester procedure that abortion supporters contend is the safest and most common.
The legislation now goes to the desk of Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who has said he will sign it into law.
According to the Arkansas Department of Health, 683 of the 3,771 abortions performed in Arkansas in 2015 were performed through the procedure.
Abortion opponents have called the procedure "barbaric," while Planned Parenthood has blasted the legislation as unconstitutional. Mississippi and West Virginia have similar bans in effect.
