Attorney General Bob McDonnell says Virginia will ask the full 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the decision of a three-judge panel that struck down Virginia's ban on a late-term abortion procedure.

"It is my belief that Virginia's partial-birth abortion ban, passed overwhelmingly by the people's elected representatives in the General Assembly, is constitutional," McDonnell said in a statement.

"Given the significance of the issues at stake, and the fact that the United States Supreme Court recently upheld a very similar federal ban on the procedure, the full court should review the ruling by the divided three-judge panel."

On May 20, a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 for the second time that Virginia's 2003 law banning what opponents call "partial-birth abortion" is unconstitutional.

The same two judges who struck down the law in 2005, M. Blane Michael and Diana Gribbon Motz, ruled it unconstitutional again.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a similar federal law and told the Richmond-based 4th Circuit to reconsider its 2005 ruling.

McDonnell's office said it could be a month or two before the court rules on whether the full court will review the case.

-- Andrew Cain