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Ohio Bill Would Ban 2nd-Trimester Abortion Method

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Legislation banning what anti-abortion activists call a “dismemberment abortion” has been introduced in the Ohio Senate.The bill would prohibit doctors from using forceps or similar instruments on a live fetus to remove it from the womb in pieces. The medical term is dilation and evacuation. Seven states already have such bans.

The New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights says that’s the safest and most common way of terminating a second-trimester pregnancy. About 3,000 D&E abortions were performed in Ohio in 2015.

The director of Ohio Right to Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion group, says the bill is aimed at “shining a light on the brutality” of a common procedure.

Abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio says it’s part of a national strategy to restrict women’s access to safe, legal abortions.