Kansas lawmakers approved sweeping anti-abortion legislation on Friday that says life begins at fertilization, forbids abortion based on gender and bans Planned Parenthood from providing sex education in schools.

In addition, the measure requires women to learn about fetal development before having an abortion.

The measure now goes to the desk of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, who opposes abortion, and is expected to sign it.

The House passed the bill 90-30, The Associated Press reported. The Senate approved it by a 28-10 vote, according to Reuters.

Republicans have large majorities in both houses.

"This fulfills the legislative intent to create a pro-life state," Kathy Ostrowski, legislative director of Kansans for Life, told Reuters before the House vote.

Thirteen states, including Missouri, have similar language to the Kansas bill in their laws, the AP reported, citing the National Right to Life Committee.

The Kansas legislation is the latest in a push by national abortion opponents for new restrictions on the procedure. Those limits are seen as a direct challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973 that legalized abortion.

Late last month, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed the nation’s strictest anti-abortion measures into law. One statute bans abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy.

An Arkansas law approved over Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe’s veto prohibits most abortions after about 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Abortion rights groups say they will challenge the new abortion laws in court.

Though the Kansas bill defines life as beginning at fertilization, it does not ban abortion from that point.

Reuters contributed to this report.

North Dakota’s governor signed the nation’s strictest anti-abortion measures into law Tuesday, including one statute that would ban most abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.

Gov. Jack Dalrymple authorized three bills previously passed by state legislators, the most controversial of which prohibits abortion procedures once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can happen early in the first trimester.

The Republican governor also approved a measure that restricts abortions based on gender selection and genetic abnormalities, such as Down syndrome.

The measures may set the stage for a legal challenge from abortion-rights advocates who consider the prospective laws challenges to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion up until a fetus is viable – typically at 22 to 24 weeks.

Dalrymple addressed the potential legal battle in a statement released after he signed off on the bills.

“Although the likelihood of this measure surviving a court challenge remains in question, this bill is nevertheless a legitimate attempt by a state legislature to discover the boundaries of Roe v. Wade,” Dalrymple said in the statement.

Legislators in the state House endorsed three other anti-abortion measures last Friday that are pending Dalrymple's signature. Two of the three prospective laws would ban abortions after 20 weeks, except in medical emergencies, and require doctors performing abortion procedures to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.

State House representatives also approved a ballot referendum that would let voters declare that life begins at conception. However, the referendum doesn't need Dalrymple's signature and will be part of the state's 2014 general election ballot.

The Red River Women's Clinic in Fargo, North Dakota's sole abortion provider, said state legislators' hospital provision "is clearly intended to regulate abortion out of existence in North Dakota."

"Admitting privileges are not easily come by under any circumstances, but more importantly, such a requirement gives hospitals the power to decide whether abortion is even available in the state," the clinic said in a statement.

Rep. Vernon Laning, a Republican from Bismarck, defended the hospital measure as a safeguard for women who have complications during their pregnancies.

"It ensures the physician is well-qualified to address the problem," Laning said on the House floor. "I certainly think a woman undergoing a procedure would want as many safety precautions as possible."

Rep. Kylie Oversen, a Democrat from Grand Forks, said House Republicans had taken a giant step toward making North Dakota the most dangerous state in the U.S. for pregnant women, NBC station KMOT of Minot reported.

"As a young woman who has not yet had the privilege of becoming a mother, I want to know that when I make a decision to do so, any already difficult decision that I must face with my physicians and my family will not be complicated by legal matters, by an overreach of state government," Oversen said.

Rogelio V. Solis / AP file

Abortion foe Cal Zastrow, second from left, stands outside Jackson Women's Health Organization Inc., Mississippi's only abortion clinic, with other protesters on January 11.

Forty years after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down many state restrictions on abortion with Roe v. Wade, women who want to terminate a pregnancy face a growing number of roadblocks in many parts of the country.

Last year, 19 states enacted a total of 43 provisions limiting access to abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute. That was half the number that went into effect the previous year, but still the second-highest number since 1985.

"The laws that have been passed, in the last couple of years especially, really make women walk through a gauntlet to get abortions, throughout the country," said Eric Ferrero, a spokesman for Planned Parenthood.

Eight states now require women seeking abortion to have ultrasounds, after Virginia lawmakers passed a measure in 2012. Three states also enacted laws that require abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital, which can deny them for a variety of reasons.

Louisiana banned abortions after 20 weeks. Utah tripled its mandatory waiting period to 72 hours. A Montana ballot initiative mandated parent notification for abortions on minors under age 16.

In at least four states -- North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas, Mississippi -- there is only one clinic.

"When you're the only provider in a state, you become a target," Tammi Kromenaker, director of the Red River Women's Clinic in Fargo, N.D., recently told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.

The fate of Mississippi's sole clinic, in Jackson, is up in the air. As of mid-January, it had not been able to comply with a new law requiring providers have hospital admitting privileges. If the clinic is shut down, Mississippi would become the first state where getting an abortion is impossible.

The erosion is happening as the rate of abortions has leveled off at about 15 per 1,000 women after a steady decline, according to the Centers for Disease Control. At the same time, public support for abortion rights appears to be stable or growing.

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found 54 percent of adults think abortion should be legal always or almost all of the time -- the biggest percentage since the question was first asked a decade ago. Seventy percent don't want Roe v. Wade to be overturned, the highest number since 1989.

But abortion opponents say there's another statistic worth noting: Most Americans don't want public funding of the procedure.

"A majority of Americans do not want their tax dollars being used to fund abortions," said Mallory Quigley, a spokeswoman for the Susan B. Anthony List, which is part of an effort to strip $60 million in women's-health funding from Planned Parenthood. 

U.S. law prohibits federal funding of most abortions, and only 17 states fund abortions for low-income women, most of them under court order. But abortion advocates argue that any government funding of Planned Parenthood for other health services -- from family planning to gynecology exams -- essentially frees up money it can use to provide abortions.

A scorecard put out by Quigley's group says officials in Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin have moved to cut funds for the women's health group. 

Some state efforts are tied up in court; in others, Planned Parenthood was able to obtain direct federal grants to fill the gap. In Texas, the organization lost a court battle to hold onto funding until a trial.

Ultimately, though, Planned Parenthood believes it will prevail against state efforts to slash its programs, either through legal action or public pressure on lawmakers.

"What we've seen over the last two years is the public doesn’t want these preventive health services to be defunded and the courts won’t allow it," Ferrero said.

Related: NBC/WSJ poll: Majority, for first time, want abortion to be legal