In a split decision, the Kansas Court of Appeals on Friday held that the state Constitution, like the federal one, protected a woman’s right to an abortion and affirmed a lower court order blocking enforcement of a restrictive 2015 law.

The ruling resulted from a 7-to-7 vote by the appeals court.

In a tie, the lower-court ruling is upheld, but the split suggested that the interpretation of abortion rights under the state Constitution is far from settled and is likely to be considered by the state Supreme Court.

The blocked law, adopted last April and signed by Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, would ban the most common method used in second-trimester abortions, known as dilation and evacuation.

Doctors say that the method, which involves dilating the cervix and then extracting the fetus with tools, often tearing it apart in the process, is usually the safest abortion technique after about the 12th to 14th week of pregnancy.