AUGUSTA – Maine abortion clinics say they plan to join a legal fight to block federal legislation banning late-term abortions.

A bill that received final Senate approval Tuesday and is expected to be signed into law by President Bush would punish anyone who performs the procedure, known by its foes as partial-birth abortion.

Abortion rights supporters say the ban’s language is too broad and could end up prohibiting safe and common procedures. They expect the legislation to be struck down on constitutional grounds.

Officials for the Augusta-based Family Planning Association of Maine and Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center in Bangor said they would seek an injunction blocking the law through the National Abortion Federation in Washington, D.C.

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, meanwhile, plans to sue on behalf of all of its affiliates, including the one encompassing Maine. The Center for Reproductive Rights is planning to file a third lawsuit.

George Hill, executive director of the Augusta-based Family Planning Association, predicted that the ban is “going to be enjoined instantly. This is not going to see the light of day as far as we’re concerned.”

The bill, approved by a 64-34 Senate vote Tuesday, would ban a type of abortion generally carried out in the second or third trimester in which a fetus is partially delivered before being killed.

The House approved the legislation this month, and Bush has said he will sign it.

Maine supporters of the ban criticized Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins for being two of only three Republicans who voted against it. In the House, U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, also voted against the ban, but 2nd District Rep. Michael Michaud, a Democrat, voted for it.