A contentious attempt to ban abortion in Indiana is dead for the session.
The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports that the chairman of the House Public Policy Committee will not hear the "Protection at Conception" measure, effectively killing it for the year. Republican Rep. Ben Smaltz of Auburn says he couldn't get past the fact that there were no exemptions for abortions in the case of rape, incest and saving the mother's life.
Republican Rep. Curt Nisly's bill defines human physical life as beginning when a human ovum is fertilized by a human sperm and says the state has an interest in protecting life.
Nisly says he's disappointed and that it was worth having a discussion. He says he's received support for the measure and doesn't plan to give up.