A proposal allowing prosecutors to charge someone with murder or other crimes for harming a fetus has advanced in the Kansas Senate.

That's after abortion opponents maneuvered around a committee not planning to vote on it.

Supporters of the so-called Alexa's Law, named for a murdered Wichita teenager's fetus, amended their proposal yesterday into a House-passed bill rewriting other anti-crime laws. The Senate gave the whole package first-round approval.

Senators are taking a final vote today. Approval would return the bill to the House for review.

The measure says the legal definition of ``person'' includes an ``unborn child'' at any stage ``from fertilization to birth'' for 13 crimes, including murder, manslaughter, vehicular homicide and battery.