COLOMBIA – With a stronger Republican Party presence in both chambers of the South Carolina General Assembly, pro-life lawmakers will take the opportunity to implement an agenda they say will make the state one of America’s leaders in fetal protection laws .
On Thursday, a Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee presents a bill that, if passed, would essentially make abortions illegal in South Carolina, making them illegal as soon as an ultrasound detects a heartbeat, which can happen soon six weeks pregnant.
The measure, known as the fetal heartbeat bill, passed the House last year, but never had a vote in the Senate floor because Republican leaders said they had no numbers to block a Democratic obstruction.
“We believe we have the best chance we ever had at our General Assembly to pass pro-life legislation,” state deputy John McCravy, a Republican from Greenwood and chairman of the 39-member SC Family Council on Saturday, told Post and Courier. .
In the past two years, 9,747 abortions have been reported to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, and more than half of them occurred between 7 and 13 weeks of gestation.
In November, Republicans won three seats in the Senate and another in the House, expanding their majorities.
During the 47º South Carolina’s annual Citizens for Life rally at SC Statehouse, Republican leaders said that handing over the fetal heart rate measure to Governor Henry McMaster is not just a priority, but a reality.
“I can tell you a thing. The leadership of the South Carolina House will continue to support and press the bill on the fetal heartbeat. I am excited about what I see in the Senate. I believe they will take heart quickly, I believe there will be quick action, ”Mayor Jay Lucas, R-Hartsville, told a crowd of about 500 people, adding that it has become“ the number one problem in the south Carolina Senate. “
McMaster said repeatedly that he would sign the legislation the minute it arrived at his table and renew that vote during an exclusive banquet for guests on Friday night, his office told Post the Courier on Saturday.
The legislature’s pro-life actions left McCravy optimistic about the fate of his omnibus SC Stands for Life Act, a package of laws that includes a fetal heartbeat, preventing abortions by dismemberment, requiring informed consent on chemically induced abortions and an instant ban if the US Supreme Court overthrows Roe v. Wade, the 1973 historical case that gave women the right to terminate pregnancy.
“We decided that we wanted to do more than just count the heartbeat this time. We wanted to present the bills that were defeated in the Senate in the past, ”said McCravy.
Molly Rivera, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, called efforts to limit access to health care for women “shameful”.
“It is disappointing to see that these are the priorities of our legislators,” she said. “We have seen these prohibitions before, and any prohibition before viability is blatantly unconstitutional, but the fact that lawmakers are wasting time and resources blocking health, especially as communities continue to fight COVID-19, is shameful.”
The adoption of a fetal heartbeat bill is likely to lead to legal action, but McCravy, who is a lawyer, believes it resists legal scrutiny. He and other pro-life lawmakers also said they want cases that question the constitutionality of abortion to end in the Supreme Court, especially now with more conservative judges in court.
On Saturday, Lt. Governor Pamela Evette said the entire McMaster administration is waiting for lawmakers to hand over the accounts.
“We are a light in a dark culture,” Evette told the rally participants. “I am so confident this year, more than ever, that we will lead the way, once again, as we do as South Carolinaians, on how to keep faith first in our lives, in our families and in our state.”
Follow Adam Benson on Twitter @ AdamNewshound12.