WICHITA, Kansas, April 18, 2007 (AP) – Today's Supreme Court decision upholding the federal ban on so-called partial birth abortions is not expected to have any immediate effect in Kansas.

Lee Thompson is the attorney for the Dr. George Tiller, one of the few physicians in the country that performs late-term abortions. He says that physicians at Tiller's clinic in Wichita do not use the procedures banned by the congressional act.

The decision is being hailed by abortion opponents as a first step to outlawing abortion.

Troy Newman of Operation Rescue says the decision justifies their faith in the composition of the Supreme Court. He says the time is now for aggressive legal challenges to abortion on demand.

U.S. Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas also issued a statement saying he was pleased by the ruling. He says the ban puts an end to one of the most grotesque forms of abortion.