As Kansas Court Blocks Law, Governor is Honored

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has received an award from a national anti-abortion group as a court in his state blocked enforcement of the law that prompted the honor.

Brownback’s office confirmed that he was in Washington on Friday to receive the award from the New York-based National Pro-Life Religious Council.

The council honored the Republican governor over the state’s enactment last year of the nation’s first ban on a common second-trimester procedure that critics call “dismemberment abortion.”

But the Kansas Court of Appeals on Friday blocked enforcement of the law. It split 7-7, allowing a trial-court judge’s ruling against the law to stand.