| Greenville News
Governor Henry McMaster sanctioned the Fetal Heartbeat Bill on Thursday afternoon.
“If there is no right to life, then what are the rights?” Said McMaster before signing the bill. “What rights exist, if not the elementary, fundamental and profound right to life.”
The bill, which prohibits the abortion of fetuses with detectable and audible heartbeat, will be challenged in court by abortion rights groups.
“The attorney general’s office has already been summoned by the plaintiffs in a legal action to prevent this law from taking effect,” South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said in an e-mailed statement. “My office will vigorously defend this law in court because there is nothing more important than protecting life.”
The bill passed 30 votes in the state Senate and 79 votes in the Chamber of Deputies.
Greenville Republicans – Sens. Tom Corbin, Dwight Loftis and Ross Turner, and Reps. Mark Willis, Mike Burns, Tommy Stringer, Patrick Haddon, Adam Morgan, Bobby Cox, Jason Elliott, Bruce Bannister and Garry Smith – voted in favor of charging them.
Greenville Democrats – Deputies Chandra Dillard and Leola Robinson and Senator Karl Allen – voted against, as did Representative Jerry Carter, a Republican from Clemson.
“A large majority of my constituents in the third district came to me and very, very strongly indicated that they did not want me to support this bill,” said Carter. “So it actually became quite easy. I voted to represent the interests of my constituents.”
Many elected officials in the interior voted in favor of the project. Here are roll-call votes in the state Senate and House of Representatives.
What the fetal heartbeat project does
The bill, S.1, went into effect as soon as McMaster signed it just before 2 pm Thursday. It requires an ultrasound test to detect a fetal heartbeat prior to having an abortion and prohibits an abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected.
A person found guilty of having an abortion that violated this bill would receive a prison sentence of up to two years or a $ 10,000 fine, or both.
A woman who had an abortion against these new rules could file a $ 10,000 lawsuit for damages and attorney fees.
An abortion after an ultrasound test did not detect an audible fetal heartbeat would not be a violation. There must also be a time between the ultrasound and the abortion.
There are exceptions in certain medical emergencies that “require an immediate abortion of your pregnancy to prevent your death without first determining whether there is a detectable fetal heartbeat” or whether the fetal heartbeat test would create a delay that would put the mother at serious risk of “disability substantial and irreversible physical impairment of an important bodily function, not including psychological or emotional conditions. “
A doctor would have to keep a record of his medical justification to support the conclusion that abortion was necessary. Doctors are required to keep records for at least seven years.
Other exceptions include pregnancies resulting from rape or incest and if the fetus is less than 20 weeks old since conception – in these situations, the doctor would be required to report the woman’s case to the authorities.
Abortion rights groups plan to challenge the bill
The Center for Reproductive Rights and Planned Parenthood plans to challenge the bill in federal court and say it will file a case by the end of Thursday.
“By banning abortion at just six weeks pregnant, before many people know they are pregnant, the law is aimed at southern Carolinians who are already struggling to access health care,” the Center for Reproductive Rights said in a statement to the press.
The lawsuit includes Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and Greenville Women’s Clinic.
South Carolina abortions
There were 5,101 abortions performed in the state in 2019, according to the Department of Health and Environment Control.
Most abortions were performed within 14 weeks of conception – 45.5% were less than six weeks and 53.9% were between seven and 13 weeks. Every abortion performed in 2018 and 2019 used an ultrasound to determine the age of the fetus.
More than half of the women who had abortions in 2019 were 20 years old – 56.9%, or 2,903 women, were between 20 and 29 years old. About 10% were under 20 years old – 10 were under 15 years old, 58 were 15 or 16 years old and 441 were 17 to 19 years old.
There were three miscarriages in the 20 weeks prior to conception, performed because of a medical emergency and two were due to fetal anomaly – conditions that would render the fetus unable to sustain life after birth.