Bismarck, N.D. (AP) North Dakota voters have rejected a "right-to-life'' amendment that abortion rights advocates feared would have ended the procedure in the state.
The measure on Tuesday's ballot would have declared in the state constitution "the inalienable right to life of every human being at every stage of development must be recognized and protected.''
Those against the measure believe the vague wording would have affected birth control, end-of-life decisions and in vitro fertilization.
Supporters say it's meant to protect the state's stringent abortion laws from judicial activism.
Republican State Sen. Margaret Sitte of Bismarck sponsored the resolution and at first said it was meant to be a challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.
But Sitte now says the resolution's intent is simply to protect existing abortion laws.