North Dakota lawmakers move to ban abortion by defining life as starting at conception

North Dakota Republican Sen. Margaret Sitte poses for a picture at the state Capitol in Bismarck, N.D., on Friday, March 22, 2013. The Bismarck Republican is the primary sponsor of a bill that the North Dakota Legislature passed Friday that would essentially ban abortion by defining human life as beginning at conception. / AP Photo/James MacPherson

Updated 7:52 PM ET

BISMARCK, N.D. North Dakota lawmakers moved Friday to outlaw abortion in the state by passing a resolution defining life as starting at conception.

The measure, which has to be approved by voters, is one of a series of anti-abortion resolutions the Republican-controlled Legislature has passed this year despite critics' insistence that they are unconstitutional and violate the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion until a fetus considered viable, which is usually at 22 to 24 weeks.

The North Dakota House approved the measure 57-35 Friday, sending it to voters, likely in November 2014. The Senate approved it last month.

As reported by CBS News correspondent Jan Crawford, North Dakota Republican State Senator Olie Larsen supported the proposal. "We are talking about the life of the mother, the life of the child," he said. "We want to determine when a child is a child, when the life cycle starts."

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The so-called "personhood" measure bestows human rights on fertilized human eggs. Efforts to pass similar measures in other states have failed, but anti-abortion legislation has had strong momentum in North Dakota this year with lawmakers introducing a slew of measures aimed at closing the state's sole abortion clinic in Fargo and challenging Roe v. Wade.

A second personhood bill debated Friday would have automatically defined in state law that life begins at conception. That bill was narrowly defeated after a heated discussion as lawmakers from both parties worried the wording would jeopardize couples' efforts to get pregnant through in vitro fertilization.

Last week, the Legislature had already passed bills that would ban abortion as early as six weeks, or as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detected, and because of genetic defects such as Down syndrome. Together, those bills would give North Dakota the strictest abortion laws in the nation.

Elizabeth Nash, who monitors state legislation for the abortion rights research group the Guttmacher Institute, said that's a back door way of

banning all abortions. "And they do it by defining 'person' as starting with fertilization instead of saying, 'We're going to ban abortion,'" she told CBS News.

Abortion-rights activists have said that if Gov. Jack Dalrymple signs any of them into law, they will fight them in court. Dalrymple, a Republican, has not indicated whether he plans to approve or veto the various measures.

The threat of costly litigation may be less of a deterrent in oil-rich North Dakota than in other states. Booming oil production has helped the state avoid the kind of budget cuts seen elsewhere and left it with comfortable surpluses.

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Debate over the legislation got heated Friday, with one Republican urging lawmakers to "pick a side" and "stay with it."

"Either you're pro-life or against it. Don't politicize it," Rep. Al Carlson, R-Fargo, said.

Rep. Gail Mooney, D-Cummings, said she voted against the measures to protect the rights of women and families wanting to make pregnancy decisions with their doctors and their god. She said some of the measures could unintentionally affect end-of-life decisions as well.

Lawmakers Friday also passed a bill outlawing abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the disputed premise that at that point, fetuses feel pain. And lawmakers approved another measure that requires a doctor who performs abortions to be a physician with hospital-admitting privileges.

Many of the North Dakota bills are modeled on legislation from other states.

[Lindag20]

I find right wing social zealot women (such as the one who sponsored this nonsense) MORE distastful than the men as they actually ENJOY inflicting pain on other women who don't meet their "standards".

[America_at_risk]

Thank God there's folks in ND who know when life actually begins.

[catfoster]

The bill wouldn't be complete unless it also included neutering of males that rape and sodomize thus impregnating women (seems it should include males who make a practice of impregnating multiple women). What about funding research that finds safe and effective methods and drugs for both women AND men that prevent pregnancy and as much if not more advertisement for men's methods of preventing pregnancy as well as strong laws making them equally financially and time effort responsible for the entire pregnancy and child care after birth. Where I live there are plenty of advertisements for women's birth control very little if any for men's, but plenty of advertisement for ED. Lets face it, the story would change if you started threatening men's 'personal points of pride'. I don't believe in late term abortions. I also don't believe abortion due to unplanned pregnancy is right either, but it is the only bandaid available because fixing the problem of safely (let's face it, womens drugs and devices come with plenty of health risks as well as issues with effectiveness and ease of use) preventing pregnancy as well as effective education to go with it.

[Weallhaveone]

Hey ND the flood is coming, your god is mad at you fools. More wasted tax dollars for lawyers.

[thebob-bob]

Every woman in ND is now a hostage to her fetus. If anything happens during the pregnancy that results in a mis-carriage then the women could be liable for manslaughter or murder.

Scenario one. You have a miscarriage. The local DA charges you with manslaughter because you were observed drinking a beer. The DA argues that, because drinking alcohol can lead to an increase in birth problems, you were negligent and therefore, guilty of manslaughter. Accident while going over the speed limit and you have a miscarriage? Murder!

Doctors will have to report when miscarry because a "person" has died.

Women are merely vessels. Their true value, according to the Radical Christianist extremists.

[CBSDebbie]

As a Christian I do not believe "life" begins before God Breathes life into a person at birth. Spirit means breath. But it really doesn't matter what anyone outside of ND or the Christian Taliban believe. Best to just never step foot into backwards ND. It can be a land of all men. Guess if your gay it would work.

[Lindag20]

JV: just because something is alive doesn't mean it's a "person". You're projecting your religious beliefs again. The people at landoverbaptist.org will be proud of you.

[Mathion]

Considering Roe V Wade cited several amendments, including the 14th, which struck down abortion bans as putting the rights of some ahead of the rights of others, this one can't stand, even if it does pass.

Remember, the GOP went to great lengths to take away the will of the people by gerrymandering themselves into super-majorities in most red states. They'll do anything, even circumventing the will of the people and democratic ideals, to advance their agenda. So they'll do what they want while they have the chance. Once their intolerance proves too much to stomach to a majority of people, they'll be gone, hopefully forever.

[VO142857]

It is wrong that definition is made by illiterate politicians influenced by worthless religious cult.
Why don't we ask scientists?

[Dustin2335]

1) Are they really illiterate or are you making an emotionally fueled stab at their intelligence because you disagree with them?

2) I assume the worthless religious cult of which you speak is Christianity. Even from a secular point of view, Christianity could not be considered worthless. To some, it may seem inconvenient; but worthless? No. The Christian faith is responsible for many humanitarian efforts around the world, like supporting the poor with food, housing, clothes,healthcare etc. It is involved in other efforts as well, like battling the European sex trade industry. I would even venture to guess it is the largest humanitarian organization in the world.

3) Asks the scientists what? If there is a new human life, with new DNA separate from either parent at the point of conception? We have asked them and the answer is yes.

I kindly encourage you, without any disrespect..truly, please work to ignore your emotion when you are making an argument and seek truth rather than the advancement or your own preconceived options. Take care.