SACRAMENTO, Calif -- SACRAMENTO, Calif. - As proposals to tighten abortion laws work their way through statehouses across the country, California lawmakers are set to consider legislation aimed at giving more women access to first-term pregnancy terminations.

The California bill, by Democratic Sen. Christine Kehoe, would allow nurse practitioners, physicians assistants and certified nurse midwives to perform a procedure known as "aspiration" abortion, which employs a suction method to remove a fetus from a uterus.