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COLUMBIA, SC (AP) – On Wednesday, South Carolina House overwhelmingly passed a bill banning nearly all abortions, as have other states with similar measures that would come into effect if the Supreme Court of United States overturned Roe v. Wade.
The bill faces a final procedural vote in the House on Thursday that is unlikely to change the outcome and will then be sent to the governor for signature. Republican Governor Henry McMaster has promised to sign the measure as soon as possible.
The Senate approved the measure on January 28, after years of unsuccessful attempts. Republicans won three seats in the 2020 election, and the newly energized 30-16 Republican majority made Senate Bill 1.
“This is the largest pro-life bill this state has ever passed,” Republican David Hiott of Pickens said.
South Carolina Fetal Heart Rate and Abortion Protection Act »Requires doctors to perform ultrasound scans to check fetal heart rate. If detected, abortion can only be performed if the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest or if the mother’s life is in danger.
The bill would not punish a pregnant woman for having an illegal abortion, but the person who performed the abortion could be charged with a felony, sentenced to a sentence of up to two years and a fine of 10,000 dollars if found guilty.
A dozen other states have adopted similar or more restrictive abortion bans, which could come into effect if the United States Supreme Court – with three judges appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump – overturns Roe v. Wade , the 1973 court decision upholding the right to abortion. .
Groups opposing the bill will likely sue, preventing the law from coming into force. All bans passed by other states are linked to legal challenges.
While Wednesday’s House approval was almost inevitable, the road there was rocky. A Republican lawmaker who wanted a stricter law asserting that fetuses have the rights of all citizens at conception threw up his papers and rushed into a row that angered the speaker. Most Democrats walked out of the chamber to protest the bill. They had to return when a party member who left and returned made the rare request to have the bill read aloud to the clerk before the vote, prompting Republicans to demand that all lawmakers be present.
During the strike, Republicans eliminated more than 100 proposed amendments. After holding a press conference to speak out against the bill, several Democrats returned to voice their opposition to the measure, which has been repeatedly debated in the legislature over the past decade. Lawmakers approved the bill by a vote of 79-35. Two Democrats voted for the ban and two Republicans voted against.
“You love the fetus in the womb. But when he’s born it’s a different reaction, ”said Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter of Orangeburg, the oldest House member at 29. Cobb-Hunter noted how the General Assembly made the abortion bill a priority over education, several COVID-19 bills and almost everything in between, and how some supporters of the ban have come out opposed to any requirement earlier this year to wear masks in the House. and during committee meetings.
“The government having no business requiring face masks” strikes me as very close to “the government having no business telling a woman what to do with her body,” “Cobb-Hunter said.
Many Republican lawmakers spoke in favor of the bill, and many cheered after the vote. Supporters of the ban have stood outside of the House chambers to applaud and hug lawmakers who have pushed the hardest for the measure.
Representative Melissa Lackey Oremus said she was 16 and leading her class when she “had a little fun one night – too much” and got pregnant.
The Aiken Republican, now 42, mother of three, said she didn’t know what to do until she had an ultrasound wand rubbed on her stomach and heard the heartbeat of her child.
“That sound to me was, I had a human being inside of me,” Oremus said. “This sound was the most beautiful sound for me. How could I have the choice to kill this sound, to make it disappear?
Debate was briefly interrupted by a Republican when Rep. Jonathon Hill, apparently angry that his amendments to completely ban all abortions were not being considered, rushed down the center aisle of the House, tossed his amendments in the air and went out.
Another representative picked up the papers.
“If it had been me, he would have stayed on the floor and I wouldn’t have allowed him to come back into the bedroom until he picked it up,” Speaker of the House Jay Lucas said. “We are a legislative body. We have a debate. We are not children. We don’t have tantrums when we lose.
Hill was not immediately punished for his behavior.
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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.
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