A recently passed law might have negative implications for the future of a woman's right to choose.

President Bush signed a bill on Thursday that states it is a separate federal crime to harm or kill a fetus in the process of assaulting the mother.

The legislation states that a victim of a harmful act is "a member of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb."

The bill says those who have legal abortions will not be prosecuted, but stating that a fetus at any stage of development is a human being implies aborting a fetus also is a crime.

While those against abortion support and welcome this new law as rights for an unborn child, the passing of the bill is only the first step toward stripping women of their right to choose.

Bush is against the abortion of fetuses, excluding those that are the product of rape, incest or those involved in pregnancies that will harm the mother. He has said that all human life, regardless of what stage, will be mourned, and the suffering that comes along with the death of a fetus cannot be ignored.

This legislation clears the way for a lot of unsavory possibilities. While we cannot deny that it must cause much anger and sadness for a parent or grandparent to lose a potential new child to the family, that does not mean passing a bill that will affect the rights of women in the future is a solution to the problem.

Regardless of what the American public believes about the issue of abortion, the question should not be left up to the government but instead it should be in the hands of a woman and her doctor. This law makes it very easy to infringe on that right in the future.

At first glance, a law to protect fetuses' rights seems moral and sympathetic.

But Bush's signing of the bill is just a poorly masked attempt to further his agenda of doing away with a woman's right to choose altogether.