BATON ROUGE  (AP) — Abortions after 15 weeks would be banned in Louisiana under a proposal to enact one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the U.S.

A committee voted 4-1 Tuesday to send the proposal to a later debate of the full state Senate.

Democratic Sen. John Milkovich says his bill would protect the unborn.

However, committee members debated whether it would unintentionally weaken Louisiana’s existing anti-abortion laws . Lawmakers urged Milkovich to continue working on the bill.

Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards has said he’s inclined to sign it into law.

Mississippi enacted a 15-week abortion ban in March, and it was immediately challenged by the state’s only abortion clinic. A federal judge put the Mississippi law on hold, and the state faces a long legal battle.