By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-986992.mp3
LANSING, MI –
The state Legislature is expected to vote Wednesday on a ban on a controversial abortion procedure performed after 21 weeks of pregnancy. As Michigan Public Radio's Laura Weber reports, the procedure is already illegal under federal law.
"Dilation and extraction" has been illegal in the U.S. for a few years. Republican state Senator Geoff Hansen says the proposals in the Legislature would help ensure the procedure remains illegal in Michigan, no matter what.
"We want to make sure that our attorney general has every tool that he needs to make sure that we don't have this practice happening in Michigan," he says.
The proposed ban is set for votes this week in the state House and Senate, just before a meeting this weekend in Lansing of the anti-abortion group Right to Life of Michigan. One of the sponsors of the proposal is expected to update the group on the status of the state ban.