The US President, MrGeorge W Bush is today poised to classify a developing foetus as an "unborn child" eligible for government health care.
The Department of Health and Human Services says the plan, now under review, is an attempt to get pre-natal care to low-income women who need it by making the foetus eligible for services under a children's national health insurance programme.
Specifically, states could consider a foetus "a targeted low-income child" and therefore pay for pre-natal care and child birth expenses, according to a draft letter now being reviewed by Health and Human Services Secretary Mr Tommy Thompson.
Abortion rights advocates claim the move is a backdoor attempt to undermine a landmark Supreme Court decision which guaranteed the right to legal abortion.
AP
