The New Mexico Senate has approved a bill abolishing life without parole for people under the age of 18.

“Most of these children, the vast majority of them, have had enormous trauma in their lives,” said Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (D-Bernalillo), the bill’s sponsor, Source NM reported. "And I don’t believe that it’s right to throw them away. I think children, especially, have enormous capacity to change.”

After two hours of debate, Senate Bill 43 was passed 23-14, KRQE reported.

Proponents of the bill claim locking a child in prison for life is a human rights abuse because a child’s brain is not fully formed and can dramatically change, according to Source NM. Under the new bill, juvenile offenders who commit murder are eligible for parole at 15 years, as well as offenders who are currently incarcerated for committing murder as a juvenile, KRQE reported.

Multiple amendments that were intended to extend the time until an offender was eligible for parole were introduced, but all failed, the station said.

Sentencing a child to life without parole is a human rights abuse, Sen. Siah Correa Hemphill (D-Catron) said, Source NM reported. It violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been ratified by every country in the world except the United States, she said.

“Childhood is separate from adulthood,” Hemphill said, quoting the words of the convention. “This is a period of time that should be protected, so children can grow and develop.”

The bill is now pending in the state House of Representatives.