RICHMOND (AP) -- A federal appeals court expects to rule in a few weeks on the constitutionality of a Virginia law banning a type of late-term abortion.

The full 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in the case Tuesday as requested by the attorney general. A three-judge panel of the court has twice declared unconstitutional the law banning a procedure that abortion opponents call "partial-birth abortion.

In the procedure, the fetus is destroyed after it has been partially delivered.

State Solicitor General William Thro says the state law is substantially the same as a federal statute that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld.

But Abortion-rights attorney Stephanie Toti said doctors who perform a standard type of abortion could be convicted under Virginia's law.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)