Arkansas lawmakers have sent the governor a measure imposing a new requirement on doctors who perform abortions over the objections of medical groups that call the move unnecessary.
The House on Thursday voted 70-15 in favor of the proposal, which would require doctors who perform abortions to be board-certified or board-eligible in obstetrics and gynecology. The measure now heads to Gov. Asa Hutchinson's desk.
Medical groups have called the requirement unnecessary. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says it opposes such restrictions.
The measure is similar to a Mississippi law that a federal judge upheld last year.
The bill is among several abortion restrictions Arkansas lawmakers have approved. Hutchinson earlier this month signed into law a bill banning most abortions 18 weeks into a woman's pregnancy.