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Wolf vetoes abortion bill called nation's most restrictive

Published  December 18, 2017 2:14pm EST
US
FOX 29 Philadelphia

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- Pennsylvania's Democratic governor has vetoed a bill passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature to limit abortions to the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, rejecting what Planned Parenthood says would have been the nation's most restrictive abortion law.

Gov. Tom Wolf signed the veto paperwork Monday in Philadelphia City Hall.

Pennsylvania's current limit is 24 weeks. The 20-week limit would have kept in place exceptions under current law for when a mother's life or well-being is at risk. It had no exceptions for rape, incest or fetal abnormalities.

MORE: Lawmakers send Wolf abortion restrictions he plans to veto

The bill also would have effectively banned dilation-and-evacuation, the most common method of second-trimester abortion, and made it a felony to violate it.

The bill was opposed by the Pennsylvania Medical Society and the Pennsylvania section of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.