NATCHEZ — A bill by one of Adams County’s representatives that would restrict a common form of abortion is headed to the governor’s desk for signature.

Rep. Sam Mims, R-McComb, sponsored the bill, which would ban the dilation and evacuation abortion procedure, which Mim’s bill terms “dismemberment abortion.”

“I think this is a piece of legislation that makes sense even for someone who is pro-choice,” Mims said after the House vote to ratify a Senate amendment to the bill Tuesday. “They understand this kind of abortion is not necessary, and that is why this legislation is good for Mississippi.”

If Gov. Phil Bryant signs the bill, it will make illegal what it defines as purposely dismembering a, “living unborn child and extract him or her one piece at a time from the uterus through use of clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors or similar instruments that, through the convergence of two rigid levers, slice, crush, and/or grasp a portion of the unborn child’s body to cut or rip it off.”

The legislation specifically exempts the woman seeking the abortion from prosecution, as well as nurses, technicians or other employees who are not a physician, but it does call for physicians who perform such an abortion to appear before the State Board of Medical Licensure to determine if the law has been violated.

The bill as adopted by the House Tuesday clarifies that a woman “upon whom such a dismemberment abortion was performed or attempted to be performed” could seek injunctive relief to prevent a physician from performing such an abortion.

It would allow the spouse, parent or guardian or former health care provider of a woman, or the prosecuting attorney with appropriate jurisdiction, to seek a similar injunction against such abortions.

The bill also allows for a civil action by a woman, “The father of the unborn child, if married to the woman at the time the dismemberment abortion was performed,” and “the maternal grandparents of the unborn child” if the woman was not 18 at the time of the abortion if the injunction is not granted.

It also allows for a criminal indictment of an abortion provider “only in the event a (injunctive or civil) judgment is rendered in favor of the defendant,” defining the criminal offense as a felony with a fine of up to $10,000 and two years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections, or both.

Mims said the amended version of the bill “made sense, so we accepted their amendments and passed it.”

Sens. Bob Dearing, D-Natchez, and Tammy Witherspoon, D-McComb, both voted for the measure in the Senate.

Rep. Angela Cockerham, D-Magnolia, supported it in the House along with Mims. Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, voted against it.