RALEIGH Suspects accused of causing a fetus to die or injuring it inside the womb at any stage of development would face separate criminal charges under a law Gov. Beverly Perdue has signed.

The measure Perdue signed on Friday doesn't apply to legal abortions but does convey legal status upon fetuses unable to survive outside their mother's womb.

The Democratic governor said twice in a statement that she strongly supports abortion rights, but "I do support punishing any person who would attack or kill a pregnant woman. I sign this bill today to show that support."

"I have children of my own, and grandchildren," Perdue said. "I know the powerful instinct of a mother to protect her children, and I know how I would feel if anyone had harmed my daughters-in-law or me when we were pregnant."

When the bill takes effect Dec. 1, North Carolina will join 35 other states and the federal government in recognizing an unborn child as an additional victim of crime. Laws in nearly two dozen states say crimes against the fetus can come at any time after conception, as the North Carolina law does.

Republicans have sought the additional protections for several years and took advantage of their majority in both chambers this year to push through the law that supporters say would punish people for harm caused to expectant babies. Opponents said the measure was a gift to conservatives who believe life begins at conception.

Rep. Dale Folwell, R-Forsyth, was one of the chief sponsors of the measure known as Ethen's law.

It was named for the unborn son of Jennifer Nielsen, who was killed along with her child in 2007 as she delivered newspapers in Raleigh.

Nielsen's father, Kevin Blaine, has pushed for years for the bill.

"This bill was about the invisible: the women of NC who have been murdered - some high profile, some not - in many cases because they were pregnant," Folwell said in an email statement. "We know that Ethen's law will punish, and if it prevents one death, it will be worth it."