In South Carolina, legislators hope to introduce legislation that would go farther in limiting abortions by recognizing fetuses as living human beings and offering them protection under the state's criminal and civil codes. While that bill would exclude punishment for legal abortions, it would be a first step toward giving fetuses full rights under the law, a foot in the door toward banning all abortions.

State Rep. Gary Simrill, R-Rock Hill, is the main sponsor of one such bill. He said he envisions a bill that would give prosecutors the same rights as those in California who have charged Scott Peterson with the murders of his wife, Laci, and unborn son, Connor.

A bill that allows prosecution of those who assault pregnant women and harm their fetuses evokes sympathy. But lawmakers need to consider the full ramifications of this measure.

There are many ways to harm a fetus, intentionally or not, including neglect. This bill would open the door to prosecution of women who harm their babies by smoking, drinking alcohol or even drinking too much coffee during their pregnancy. Fetal alcohol syndrome, in fact, ranks as one of the most common and devastating problems afflicting newborns.

Obviously, the authors of this bill don't envision prosecuting women who unintentionally harm their fetuses. But how could such a law discriminate between those who harm their own or someone else's unborn child intentionally and those who do so through ignorance or neglect?

Would women be sent to jail if they fail to wear a seat belt and their fetuses are harmed in an auto accident? Would nicotine addicts who smoke throughout their pregnancies be prosecuted if their newborns have low birth weights or are otherwise adversely affected by the mother's cigarette habit?

Supporters of this measure no doubt will say that the law would be selective in who it prosecutes. But the law could not do that and still be fair.

We suspect that the intention of any law to give fetuses the same rights as living human beings is to erode the right to legal abortion. But this approach opens a legal can of worms that would make thousands of pregnant women subject to prosecution.

It seems unlikely that that many mainstream Americans would support criminalizing all the ways in which fetuses can be harmed. Once they understand the full implications of this law, we suspect they would regard it as going too far.

Thousands of women could he held liable for harming their fetuses.