The classic arguments for and against an abortion ban were on display Tuesday during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the measure.

Tuesday's hearing marked the beginning of Senate debate on an abortion ban measure that was approved by the state House in January.

If passed, the measure would ban the performance of abortions except to save the pregnant woman's life. Any doctor violating the law would be charged with a felony.

The bill would only take effect if a future Supreme Court decision overturns the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion legal. If this happened, each state would get to decide its own policy.

Christopher Dodson, executive director of the North Dakota Catholic Conference, said the measure allows legislators to set this future anti-abortion policy without dragging the state into a costly legal fight today.

"Since we appealed our existing abortion laws at the time (of Roe v. Wade), this would simply put that back into place," he said.

Dodson called today's situation "a world where human life gets destroyed simply because he or she isn't wanted."

North Dakota averages about 1,200 abortions a year, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Supporters of abortion rights say these are decisions that should be left between a woman and her doctor.

Tiffany Johnson, a Bismarck lawyer and member of the North Dakota Women's Network, said the bill would be a big step backward for women in the state.

"North Dakota women, the medical professionals who treat them and those that care about them will suffer if this passes," she said.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. James Kerzman, D-Mott, proposed amendments to his bill on Tuesday that would clarify the bill's intention that the woman seeking an abortion not be punished and remove portions that would have let the doctors be sued as well as charged with a crime.

The committee did not take any action on the amendments or the underlying bill.

The bill is HB1466.

(Reach reporter Jonathan Rivoli at 223-8482 or jonathan.rivoli@;bismarcktribune.com.)