Topeka ? Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office says legislators have known for weeks that the state could spend up to $450,000 to defend a new law banning a procedure common in second trimester abortions.

Abortion providers have said they’re considering lawsuits.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Rapp said Tuesday that Schmidt’s office supplied figures to Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget staff at its request for an estimate of potential defense costs for lawmakers in February.

Legislative researchers included the numbers last week in a list of budget items for lawmakers to consider.

The new law bars doctors from using forceps, clamps or similar instruments on a live fetus to remove it from the womb in pieces. Kansas was the first state to enact such a measure, and the law takes effect in July.