Kansas has become the first state in the country to ban a common procedure used during second-trimester abortions. On Tuesday, Republican Gov. Sam Brownback signed the law, based on model legislation from the anti-choice National Right to Life Committee, which bans doctors from using instruments to remove a fetus in pieces. It allows exceptions only to save a woman’s life or prevent irreversible damage to a major bodily function. Julie Burkhart, founder and CEO of Trust Women and the South Wind Women’s Center, the former clinic of slain doctor George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas, said the law is unconstitutional and dangerous, because it bans physicians from “using their sound medical judgment to decide what is best for their patients.” Similar measures have already been introduced in Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina.