COLOMBIA, SC (AP) – Abortion opponents have teamed up with some of South Carolina’s most powerful Republican politicians to mark what they think could be the end of a long struggle to pass a bill that would ban almost all abortions in the state.
Less than four hours after the governor, the mayor and the Senate majority leader met on Wednesday with leaders of organizations fighting abortion, the Senate voted 29 to 17 on an upcoming bill defending for years.
The proposal faces a final vote, probably on Thursday. Democrats have promised a tough fight through obstruction and whatever legislative machinery they can find, but with only one Republican in the House voting against the bill, their chances of stopping it seem slim. Senator Sandy Senn of Charleston was the only Republican to vote against.
The bill requires doctors to use an ultrasound to try to detect the fetal heartbeat if they think pregnant women are at least eight weeks old. If they find a heartbeat and the pregnancy is not the result of rape or incest, they cannot perform an abortion unless the mother’s life is in danger.
Similar laws have been passed in other states, but have been prevented by legal challenges.
Abortion opponents watched the bill pass in the House for several years, only to stall in the Senate because Republicans failed to get enough votes to overcome a procedural hurdle.
But Republicans won three more seats in November to gain a 30-16 lead over Democrats and what appears to be enough votes to push the “South Carolina Fetal Heartbeat and Abortion Protection Act” in the House.
House Speaker Jay Lucas promised on Wednesday that if the bill passes the Senate, he will present it to the House as soon as possible.
“We will approve as we did in the past,” said the Republican from Hartsville.
The Chamber approved the bill at the last session 70-31.
Governor Henry McMaster again pledged to sanction the bill as soon as he can.
“We’ve never been this close. But we have a long way to go. My urgent request is don’t stop now, ”said McMaster.
Democrats do not plan to allow the bill to pass without a fight. Senator Marlon Kimpson took the floor on Wednesday afternoon and said the Senate had the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccination and dozens of other issues more important than approving a proposal that remains in limbo in court in about one a dozen other states that have passed similar bills.
“I’m going to take my time today and tomorrow to talk to you about what I think Senate business should be about,” said the Charleston Democrat.
Most Democrats are waiting for the final vote before trying to stop the bill or make their speeches against it.
“I hate getting into a fight between Republicans, but I can’t swim beyond the debate,” said Kimpson.
There was a small fight on Wednesday over whether exceptions to pregnancies caused by rape and incest should be maintained in the bill. The most conservative Republicans did not want them, saying that babies conceived in this way are innocent.
But Senate majority leader Shane Massey said he thought that, without these exceptions, the bill was doomed, if not in the South Carolina Senate, than before the courts.
“What I want to do is save as many lives as possible. That means passing legislation, but it also means passing something that there is a good chance the courts will support, ”said the Republican from Edgefield.
Current South Carolina law prohibits abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy.
According to the proposed state bill, doctors can be convicted of a crime and face up to two years in prison if they don’t check a heartbeat or detect one and perform an abortion anyway. The woman who has an abortion will not be punished.
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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.