The measure, passed 252-172, would up the penalty for attacks on pregnant women.
Opponents see it as a bid to curb abortion rights.
The House voted yesterday to make harming a fetus during a crime a federal offense - the opening effort by antiabortion forces to push the new Congress to adopt tighter restrictions on abortions and to give legal protections to the unborn. Russian court sentences American to three years The American Fulbright Scholar was charged with drug offenses. His lawyer said the sentence was influenced by spying accusations. An American Fulbright scholar was sentenced today to more than three years in prison after being convicted on drug charges - a verdict his lawyer said was influenced by accusations from Russia's secret services that he was a spy in training. The middle schoolers and their chaperones were on their way to a music festival.