A new bill in the Massachusetts state legislature could subject parents who spank their children to criminal abuse charges. If enacted, the law would become the first in the country outlawing the practice.

Massachusetts nurse Kathleen Wolf drafted the bill, which includes exceptions for "minor physical contact" and "the reasonable use of force."

The bill is already sparking a debate over the line between discipline and abuse, and the role of the government in family affairs. While many supporters of the law say it could curb child abuse, others feel the statute would be an unnecessary and ineffective intrusion on parental rights.

Wolf told CNN that her primary motivation for pushing forth the bill is one of public dialogue. "We need to educate people around this," Wolf said. "We need to have it on the books that, yes, it's much more appropriate to use other forms of discipline."

However, the proposal is bound to meet with fierce opposition by many who see the practice as a "tried and true" method of teaching children right from wrong.

"But," says Rep. Jay Kaufman, who introduced the bill, "what I'm grateful for with this is the chance to engage the public in a conversation on the troubling, almost epidemic rise, in the number of child abuse cases we see each year. It has simply become unacceptable, and if a bill like this can shed some more light on the issue, then the effort is worth it."

The state of Massachusetts charged approximately 5,000 people with child abuse last year, and the numbers have been steadily increasing over the past decade.