IN A stunning victory for supporters of a women's right to choose abortion, a proposed "personhood" bill in Oklahoma that would have given embryos the same rights as human beings fizzled out in the state legislature.

The bill sailed through the state Senate in a 34-8 vote in February, and supporters expected it to pass the House just as easily. But with public outcry growing against the anti-woman bill, the legislation died without even coming to a vote on the floor, when the House Republican Caucus voted April 19 not to hear the bill.

The bill, known as SB 1433, would have defined life as beginning at "the moment of conception" and granted all the rights of a citizen to unborn fetuses at any stage of development. The bill provided no exception for cases of rape or incest.