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PA House Votes For Abortion Ban After 20 Weeks

HARRISBURG (CBS) -- The state House has sent the Senate a bill that would ban elective abortions after 20 weeks. The bill passed with bi-partisan support, but Governor Wolf opposes it.

In addition to a ban on elective abortion after 20 weeks, instead of the current 24, also banned would be what the language of the bill calls "dismemberment" abortion. The sponsor of the bill is Warren County Republican Kathy Rapp.

"If advances in the medicine are allowing thousands of babies every year at 20 to 24 weeks to survive and thrive, our laws must change," Rapp said.

Montgomery County Democrat Madeleine Dean opposes the measure.

"Non-genetic fetal abnormalities that a pregnant woman and her husband or her partner may want to consider are generally not diagnosable until 20 weeks gestation,"

It is unclear when the Senate may take consider the bill and even if it does, Governor Wolf has already pledged to veto it.

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