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PHOENIX — State lawmakers took the first steps Wednesday toward making "partial- birth" abortions illegal in Arizona.

The House Health Committee voted to make it illegal for a doctor to partially deliver a fetus and then kill it. The 5-4 party-line vote, with Republicans in the majority, sends the measure to the full House.

Legislators actually approved a similar law in 1997. But a federal judge in Tucson almost immediately barred it from ever being enforced, concluding it was unconstitutional.

Grant Woods, then the state attorney general, filed an appeal. But his successor in 1999, Janet Napolitano, now governor, dropped the case, saying she believed the lower-court decision was correct.

The result is that the statute has remained on the books, unenforceable.

What changed is that the U.S. Supreme Court last year upheld a 2003 federal law banning partial-birth abortions.

"We have a road map now in terms of what the court will deem permissible in this area," Ron Johnson, lobbyist for the Arizona Catholic Conference, told lawmakers. He said House Bill 2769 has been "carefully drafted in order to essentially mirror federal legislation that we know is permissible and is something that works."

Both the 1997 and new versions of the law provide an exception if the abortion is needed to save the mother's life. But HB 2769 does not include the earlier language that made that exception an option only "if no other medical procedure would save the mother's life."

Rep. David Bradley, D-Tucson, questioned the need for a state law if these abortions already are illegal under federal law.

But Johnson said only federal prosecutors can bring charges against any physician who performs the procedure. He said that leaves county attorneys powerless to act if their federal counterparts refuse to intercede.

And Johnson said prosecuting someone under federal law may require a showing that the abortion was in some way related to interstate commerce.

The new version of the law sets the penalty at up to 18 months in state prison; the 1997 law provided for a maximum 12 months behind bars.

HB 2769 does retain some of the provisions of the original statute, including one that allows the husband of the woman to sue the doctor to recover money for physical or psychological injuries. And while it subjects doctors to prosecution, it retains language granting immunity to the woman from any civil or criminal charges.