A House committee took up an abortion bill Wednesday for the first of three days of hearings on the measure.

The "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" is a 68-page document that, among other things, alters tax credits now offered for employer-based medical insurance and amends current law to require physicians to inform women in writing of risks of premature birth and breast cancer that the bill's proponents say are increased by abortion.

It would require medical providers to attempt to locate the fetal heartbeat and allow the woman the opportunity to hear it before she consents to an abortion.

A coalition of abortion-rights groups gathered at the Statehouse on Wednesday to denounce the bill, describing it as intrusive, far-reaching legislation not based on science that could put women's lives at risk.

The House Federal and State Affairs Committee heard testimony from proponents of the bill, including Rep. Lance Kinzer, R-Olathe, who drafted it.

Kinzer said Arizona had passed a stricter anti-abortion bill, but a portion of it is in federal litigation. He said his bill would eliminate tax credits for drugs bought for the purpose of abortion and some credits for post-secondary medical institutions that perform abortions.

That last point concerned Rep. Judith Loganbill, D-Wichita, who wondered how it might affect the accreditation of teaching hospitals, such as that of The University of Kansas.

"Is this going to prevent the KU hospital from teaching doctors how to perform abortions?" she asked.

Kinzer said he believed abortions at public teaching hospitals are generally performed on nonviable fetuses, such as ectopic pregnancies. He said he believed hospitals like KU could teach their students how to perform abortions without actually performing them.

"I think the correct public policy is KU Med should not be performing abortions except to save the life of the mother," Kinzer said. "This would not stop them from doing that."

The committee also heard from Angela Lanfranchi, a surgical oncologist from the sanofi aventis Breast Care Center at Steeplechase Cancer Center in New Jersey.

Lanfranchi gave a presentation in which she stated that a woman's risk of breast cancer goes up each year that she doesn’t carry a child to term after age 20. Lanfranchi said that didn’t mean every woman who had an abortion would get breast cancer, but she likened it to the link between smoking and lung cancer.

"We still tell them the risks and that this is not a good idea," Lanfranchi said. "And this is similar to that."

Rep. Sean Gatewood, D-Topeka, asked Lanfranchi why the World Health Organization, the National Cancer Institute, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynocologists say evidence of a link between abortion and breast cancer is lacking.

Lanfranchi suggested the organizations' positions are politically motivated and said some of them signed on to studies that link elevated breast cancer risk to premature births, which she said are the same for a woman's body biologically.

"There's nothing different about a premature birth of a live infant and an induced abortion of a dead and dismembered infant," Lanfranchi said.

After the hearing, representatives from Kansans for Life said Kinzer's bill doesn’t affect contraception and refuted opponents' claims that the bill could prevent abortion clinic workers from volunteering at their children’s schools.

The bill prohibits public schools from contracting with abortion service providers for any services, including sexual education materials.

Kansans for Life is calling the bill the "Pro-Life Protections Act." It is one of four anti-abortion bills filed this session. Four others passed last session.