FRANKFORT — A bill to recognize a fetus as a person, allowing homicide charges against some people responsible for the deaths of unborn babies, was approved Wednesday by a Senate committee.

        The bill would exempt abortion, but an abortion-rights activist said it was a part of an attempt to erode women's access to abortion.

        “This was a political show for the right-to-lifers who are up here,” said Beth Wilson of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, referring to an anti-abortion rally Wednesday at the Capitol.

        The bill easily cleared the Judiciary Committee and now goes to the full Senate. Half of the Senate's 38 members are co-sponsoring the bill.

        The measure would broaden the definition of a human being in state law to include an unborn child from the time of fertilization onward, “without regard to age, health, or condition of dependency.”

        If the bill becomes law, a person who harms a pregnant woman, causing the death of the unborn child, could be charged with criminal homicide.

        Sen. Dick Roeding, a lead sponsor of the bill, said that under Kentucky common law a child must be born alive before it can be a crime victim. Mr. Roeding, R-Lakeside Park, said that's wrong.

        “I believe that the life of an unborn child is a sacred gift from God and when crime destroys it and takes that precious gift away from us, we all suffer,” he said. “The criminal must be punished.”

        Similar “fetal-homicide” measures have won Senate passage in the past but were bottled up in the House.

        Under the bill, health-care professionals would be exempt from prosecution for an unborn's death while providing diagnostic testing or treatment. Hospitals also would be exempt. The bill also would not apply to pregnant women who cause the deaths of their unborns.

        Ms. Wilson said the General Assembly should follow another option — toughening criminal penalties against people who harm pregnant women. She said that would punish wrongdoers without having to recognize a fetus as a person.

        A bill introduced in the House would allow civil penalties for the deaths of unborn babies. That bill is pending in committee.

        Meanwhile, another bill would require that consultations between abortion doctors and women considering the procedure be done in person.

        The bill, unveiled Tuesday, would nullify an opinion by the Kentucky Medical Licensure Board that the counseling can be done with a phone call.

        The counseling is part of a 1998 law that requires women seeking an abortion to wait at least 24 hours before it is performed. The law requires women to be informed about the abortion and its risks, alternatives to the procedure and the fetus' probable gestational age.

        Sen. Katie Stine, R-Fort Thomas and the bill's chief sponsor, said phone conversations wouldn't be conducive for the intended “give and take” between a doctor and woman considering an abortion.

        Abortion-rights activists say the bill would create a burden for women wanting abortions by making them go to an abortion clinic twice, once for counseling and again for the procedure.

        In another development, the House tacked an abortion-related amendment to a bill allowing nurses in health departments to dispense certain prescriptions. The amendment would ban health departments from prescribing anything to induce abortions.

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