Republican candidate for governor Robert Bentley today proposed an amendment to the state constitution that would make it a crime for anyone to cause or participate in an abortion, with some exceptions.

Exceptions would be allowed if the life of a mother was threatened by a pregnancy or for rape or incest.

''I care about the life of unborn children. We need people who will stand up for unborn children in this country,'' said Bentley, 66, who is a retired physician and a state representative from Tuscaloosa County.

The proposal would become part of the state constitution if passed by the Legislature and then by voters in a state referendum.

Bentley predicted the amendment, if passed, would be challenged in federal court.

He said he hoped the challenge would move all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and cause the justices to reverse the Court's Roe v. Wade decision of 1973, which said women have a constitutional right to abortion. Bentley said he thinks that ruling was wrong.