An overwhelming majority of Mississippi lawmakers approved a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

On Tuesday, Mississippi bill MS H 1400 passed the state House, 90-21, and the state Senate, 41-10. The measure now proceeds to the desk of Gov. Phil Bryant (R) who is expected to sign it into law.

The bill mirrors legislation pending in Congress and other states that acknowledges scientific evidence that unborn babies are capable of feeling pain by 20 weeks of life.

Similar laws have been passed in thirteen states, and a federal version has been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and has more than 40 cosponsors in the U.S. Senate.

Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest praised the courage of those Mississippi lawmakers who approved the measure.

“Late term abortions are deadly for both mother and child,” observed Yoest.

“A woman seeking an abortion at 20 weeks (five months) is 35 times more likely to die from abortion than she was in the first trimester,” she explained. “At 21 weeks or more, she is 91 times more likely to die from abortion than she was in the first trimester. Such horrendous statistics show the wisdom of the Mississippi legislators who moved today to enact common-sense limits on a dangerous procedure.”

In an email statement to Breitbart News, Concerned Women For America CEO and president Penny Nance said:

As polling by Quinnipiac, National Journal, Huffington Post, NBC/Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post/ABC News reveal, a majority of Americans support limiting abortion after 20 weeks. Sixty percent of women think abortion after 20 weeks should be illegal (53 percent of men agree). Scientific research and advancing technology brings to light the inhumane treatment of babies in the womb, who after 20 weeks (about five months gestation) have all their organs, hear and respond to their mother’s voices and can feel pain. In fact, doctors routinely use anesthesia for fetal surgery for babies at 20 weeks.

“Science has caught up with the abortion industry, and now states all over the country are working to correct a grievous wrong,” Nance stated.