COLOMBIA, SC (AP) – The governor of South Carolina signed a bill on Thursday that prohibits most abortions, one of his top priorities since taking office more than four years ago. Planned Parenthood immediately sued, effectively preventing the new law from taking effect.
South Carolina’s “Fetal Heartbeat and Abortion Protection Act” is similar to the abortion restriction laws that a dozen states have passed. Everyone is tied up in court. Federal law, which takes precedence over state law, currently allows abortion.
“There are many happy hearts beating in South Carolina now,” proclaimed Republican Governor Henry McMaster during a ceremony at the Statehouse attended by lawmakers who made the proposal a reality.
Immediately after he signs the bill, a group of lawmakers and members of the public, shoulder to shoulder and wearing masks to protect themselves against the coronavirus, began to sing the words “Praise be God” to the sound of “Incredible Grace”.
The House passed the bill by 79-35 votes on Wednesday after hours of exciting speeches by supporters and opponents, and gave final approval to the measure on Thursday. Moments after Thursday’s vote, Planned Parenthood announced it was filing a lawsuit. South Carolina’s law, like that of other states being contested, is “blatantly unconstitutional,” said Jenny Black, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic.
Supporters of restrictive abortion laws are trying to take the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court in the hope that – with three judges appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump – the court will be able to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that supports abortion rights. The Supreme Court had previously ruled that abortion is legal until a fetus is viable outside the womb – months after a heartbeat can be detected, Black said.
State bills to restrict or ban abortion “are completely absurd,” she said. “There is no other way around this.”
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson released a statement on Thursday, saying his office “will vigorously defend this law in court because there is nothing more important than protecting life.” He stayed close to McMaster while the governor signed the bill.
Abortion opponents have been pushing for the ban for years, but it has been stuck in a procedural obstacle in the Senate. Republicans won three Senate seats in the November election and the bill was called “Senate Bill No. 1” to show that it was the top priority.
“We are about to do what I’ve been trying to do for 25 years: shut down the abortion industry in South Carolina,” said Republican Senator Larry Grooms moments before the governor signed the bill.
Democrats say Republicans have wasted taxpayer money by passing a bill that everyone knew would be challenged in court. They also argue that there are more important issues that need your attention, such as COVID-19, health and education.
“We are tired of hypocrisy,” said minority leader in the House, Todd Rutherford. Rutherford said Democrats are also fed up with lawmakers across the corridor telling them that they don’t care about life.
“We care about life until death. We care about birth. … We care about people eating, people not dying because they can’t get the vaccines, ”he said.
The lawsuit by Planned Parenthood and The Center for Reproductive Rights argues that the new South Carolina law “blatantly violates nearly five decades of Supreme Court precedents.” The lawsuit says that a high rate of women, especially African-Americans, die during or immediately after childbirth in South Carolina. The ban on abortion would further affect low-income women, who could not travel to a nearby state where abortion it is still allowed, says the process.
A hearing to determine whether the law should be suspended during the trial is scheduled for Friday afternoon.
Like Democratic lawmakers, Black said the focus on abortion not only wastes money in fighting the established law, but also ignores a number of other important issues.
“If lawmakers are really interested in improving life, we have a long list of priorities that they can focus on,” she said.
South Carolina law requires doctors to perform an ultrasound to check the fetus for a heartbeat. 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 measure does not punish a pregnant woman for having an illegal abortion, but the person who did the abortion can be charged with a crime, sentenced to up to two years and a $ 10,000 fine if found guilty.
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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.