As reported by AP.
I was just looking at dhonig's diary "If Life Begins at Conception." Terrifyingly, this idea is well on it's way to reality in North Dakota.
My favorite line in the article is "The measure's sponsor, Rep. Dan Ruby, R-Minot, said the legislation did not automatically ban abortion."
Of course. Because that would be illegal, going against Roe v. Wade which applies to the entire country. However, by granting a cluster of cells the same rights as a fully formed person, you are essentially saying that destroying it is murder. Stem cell research would have to be forbidden, because experimenting on humans is dangerous, and usually requires consent (maybe a guardian could consent?). A woman who does not take folate, or eats tuna while pregnant could be arrested for negligence.
What I find most scary about this, though, is the conflict of interest it promotes between a woman and a fetus. If a pregnant woman should discover that she has cancer, will she not be allowed to get radiation or chemo, because it might harm the fetus? Under normal circumstances, an abortion would be recommended, but that would be illegal. In this case, how would lawmakers (since the woman and her doctors have effectively been shut out of the discussion) decide between lives?
EDIT: thanks to debcoop for point out that the bill actually gives human rights to ""any organism with the genome of homo sapiens," which allows for much weirder possibilities- does your sperm deserve human rights?