Efforts to enact a second piece of abortion-restricting legislation in South Carolina failed after state Republicans were unable to receive enough votes to pass a near-total reproductive care ban on Thursday. The bill, which did not include exceptions for rape or incest, looked to ban abortion beginning at fertilization. According to the Associated Press, five Republicans, including all the chamber’s women, refused to support the bill. While 30 Republicans in the 46-member chamber had a majority to pass the ban they did not have the extra votes to end a filibuster by Republican Sen. Tom Davis.
Instead of passing a near-total ban without exceptions for rape or incest, the Senate then passed an amended bill that mirrors existing restrictions. Similar to the current heartbeat bill, passed after the Doobs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that hailed the end of Roe v. Wade, the Senate bill bans abortion after about six weeks. It also includes exceptions for victims of rape or incest for up to 12 weeks.
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Additionally, the bill also includes exceptions for when a fetus is diagnosed with a fatal anomaly or when the life of the mother is at risk.
While the state already has a “heartbeat” ban that bars abortions after cardiac activity can be detected—at about six weeks’ gestation—some Republicans were hoping to make the harsh law even more strict. The heartbeat ban took effect in June, following the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade, but was blocked by the South Carolina Supreme Court in August.
As a result of the block, abortion is temporarily legal in South Carolina. Under that “heartbeat” ban, rape and incest victims can receive an abortion before 20 weeks. The State Senate proposal reduces that time to 12 weeks.
According to The Washington Post, the original bill under debate this week would have banned abortion except when a pregnant person’s life is at risk or “major bodily function” imperiled. Because there was not enough support for a ban on fertilization or a ban without exceptions for victims of rape or incest, several amendments were made. Physicians who violated the bill, as it was originally proposed, faced felony charges and civil penalties—including potentially a $10,000 fine, up to two years in prison, and the loss of their medical licenses.
Several legislators, even Republicans, have expressed issues with the proposed abortion bills. Republican Sen. Davis, after filibustering the proposed bill, said he would not support a stricter abortion ban. He recalled speaking to his daughters about the ban and promising them he would not vote to make South Carolina’s current six-week abortion ban worse, “because women have rights, too.”
“The moment we become pregnant, we lose all control over what goes on with our bodies,” Davis said, reflecting on what his daughters said. “I’m here to tell you I’m not going to let it happen.”
Davis added that he did not believe the proposed bill amounted to an “equitable balancing of competing rights” between a pregnant person and an unborn child.
The vote follows the South Carolina House of Representatives approving HB 5399, which outlawed abortion at almost every stage of pregnancy—with limited exceptions to rape or incest—before 12 weeks. According to Daily Kos, an amendment for making an exception for rape and incest was added at the last minute to the House bill, the original proposal had none.
This newly amended bill from Thursday will not go back to the House for approval.
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