Juneau, AK (LifeNews.com) -- The Alaska House on Tuesday voted to approve a bill to ban partial-birth abortions in the state by updating the language in the state ban to conform with the language in the federal one. The House backed the bill on a 21-15 vote.

The Supreme Court, last April, upheld the federal ban as Constitutional -- a reversal of a 2000 decision saying a health exception was necessary.

John Coghill, a North Pole Republican, sponsored the bill with Republican Wes Keller of Wasilla.

Alaska originally approved a partial-birth abortion ban in 1997 but state courts overturned it as unconstitutional. Keller told the House the bill would be upheld as constitutional in the courts because of the high court’s decision.

"That change will make our statute enforceable again,” he said, according to the Ft. Mill Times.

During the debate, abortion advocates trotted out the claim that the ban would prohibit other abortion procedures as well.

Rep. Beth Kerttula said first and second-trimester abortions would be prohibited, too.

"Once you go down the road to allowing the politicians, and, yeah, the lawyers, set these rights, you are down the wrong path," Kerttula said.

Rep. Bob Lynn, a supporter of the ban, responded, "This bill is not about Roe v. Wade. It's about a procedure and the procedure is to kill a human baby as it's coming out the birth canal. It's not partial-birth abortion, it's partial-birth infanticide.”

After the debate, lawmakers turned back a pro-abortion amendment to weaken the bill with a health exception that would gut the bill and allow virtually unlimited partial-birth abortions.

Related web sites:
Alaska legislature - http://w3.legis.state.ak.us
Alaska Right to Life - http://www.alaskarighttolife.org