North Dakota lawmakers passed a resolution on Friday to allow the public to decide whether the State Constitution should assert that life begins at conception, a move that would essentially ban all abortions in the state.
The measure, which will appear on next year's ballot, comes a week after the Republican-controlled Legislature adopted a law that made abortion illegal once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which could be as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
Although the House on Friday struck down a bill that would have directly affirmed that life begins at conception, without a requirement of a public vote, it did pass legislation to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and to require doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.
Abortion-rights advocates have criticized the bills and promised to challenge them, saying the measures violated the Roe v. Wade decision that allows abortions until the fetus is considered viable, usually around 24 weeks into a pregnancy.
"The thought that the politicians of North Dakota would put their own state through another ballot initiative that does absolutely nothing to advance the well-being of the people of that state is just unconscionable," said Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
Senator Margaret Sitte, a Republican who sponsored the "personhood" resolution that passed the Senate last month and the House on Friday, said she hoped that it would lead to an end to abortion in the state.
"I'm hoping that it will be a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade," she said.
The resolution does not need Gov. Jack Dalrymple's approval, but the other bills do. Although he is a Republican who opposes abortion, his deliberation is a bit complicated.
With the threat of lawsuits, the state could be forced into a costly legal fight if he signs the bills into law. Mr. Dalrymple still has not acted on the fetal heartbeat measure. His office said Friday that it had yet to receive the bill. Once he receives it, he has three days to make a decision. The resolution regarding life at conception will be put up for a public vote whether to add an amendment to the State Constitution that says, "The inalienable right to life of every human being at any stage of development must be recognized and defended."
Erik Eckholm contributed reporting.
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