BATON ROUGE - An effort to ban abortions performed in cases where the fetus is determined to have a genetic abnormality is steps from final passage.

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee delayed a vote last week to try to devise compromise language, in response to concerns the proposal runs afoul of court decisions upholding a woman's right to an abortion.

On Tuesday, without a rewrite, the panel voted 3-1 for the House-approved bill, sending it to the full Senate.

The sole vote against the bill came from Republican Sen. Dan Claitor. He defended himself as "as pro-life as they come," but said the bill "is unconstitutional on its face."

Bill supporter Sen. Regina Barrow, a Democrat, said any bill passed by lawmakers could face a court challenge.