North Dakota Becomes First State To Pass "Personhood" Measure Banning All Abortion

On Friday, North Dakota voted to ban all abortions, period. 

State lawmakers agreed to implement a "personhood" measure which would grant fertilized eggs with the same rights as U.S. citizens.  That means that regardless of a women's right to choose, or the circumstances surrounding her pregnancy, whether it be rape or incest, all abortion services will be outlawed.

ThinkProgress broke the news Friday afternoon reporting that the North Dakota state House passed the measure in a 57-35 vote.  Now the legislation will head to Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple to be signed into law.

The "personhood" ban would charge doctors who damage embryos with criminal negligence and also prevent them from performing in vitro fertilization due to the risk that the procedure would present in potentially harming some embryos.  

In protest, some medical professionals have vowed to leave the state if it is signed into law while even pro-life Republicans in the state argue that the bill goes too far and will participate in a pro-choice rally in the state capital on Monday. "We have stepped over the line," Republican state Rep. Kathy Hawken (R-Fargo) said of the recent push to pass personhood. "North Dakota hasn't even passed a primary seatbelt law, but we have the most invasive attack on women's health anywhere."

As the first state to pass a "personhood" abortion ban, such a law would compromise doctors' ability to save women's lives if an abortion is needed to keep her alive.  This occurred to a woman named Savita Halappanavar who died after a Catholic hospital refused to abort her pregnancy.  In addition, the number of unsafe, illegal "backroom" abortions would also increase among women, according to experts.