Arkansas Senate expands definition of unborn child

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2013/mar/11/arkansas-senate-expands-definition-of-unborn/

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Senate voted unanimously Monday to make it a crime to kill a fetus anytime after the moment of conception.

Backers say it will protect mothers, but abortion rights advocates warn it is aimed at further restricting the procedure in a state that already has the nation’s most restrictive law.

The measure passed by the Senate 35-0 does not apply to legal abortions or acts by the mother, but would apply to criminal acts and wrongful death actions in civil court. Current law defines a 12-week-old fetus as an unborn child.

The bill was approved less than a week after the Republican-led legislature enacted a ban on most abortions 12 weeks into a pregnancy, overriding Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe’s veto of the measure. Abortion rights groups plan to sue the state in federal court over the ban, which Beebe has called unconstitutional.

The abortion laws are among several new prohibitions gaining support after Republicans won control of the House and Senate in the November election.