The South Carolina House on Wednesday passed overwhelmingly a bill that prohibits nearly all abortions, following the example of other states with similar measures that would take effect if the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
The bill faces a final procedural vote in the House on Thursday, which is unlikely to change the outcome and will then be sent to the governor for signature. Republican Governor Henry McMaster promised to sign the measure as soon as possible.
The Senate passed the measure on January 28, after years of failed attempts. Republicans won three seats in the 2020 elections and the newly renewed 30-16 Republican majority made Senate Bill No. 1’s proposal.
“This is the largest pro-life bill this state has passed,” said Republican Representative David Hiott of Pickens.
The “South Carolina Fetal Heart Rate and Abortion Protection Act” requires doctors to perform ultrasound scans 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 is in danger.
The bill would not punish a pregnant woman for having an illegal abortion, but the person who performed the abortion could be charged with a crime, sentenced to up to two years and fined $ 10,000 if found guilty.
About a dozen other states have approved similar or more restrictive abortion bans, which could take effect if the United States Supreme Court – with three judges appointed by former Republican President Trump – overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court ruling that supported abortion rights.
Groups that oppose the bill are likely to file a lawsuit, preventing the law from coming into effect. All prohibitions approved by other states are linked to legal challenges.
Although the approval of the Chamber on Wednesday was almost a foregone conclusion, the path there was rocky. A Republican lawmaker who wanted a stricter law saying that fetuses have the rights of all citizens at the time of conception threw their papers in the air and came out in a mess that angered the speaker. Most Democrats left the chamber to protest the bill. They had to return when a party member who left and returned made the rare request for the clerk to read the entire bill out loud before the vote, prompting Republicans to demand that all lawmakers be present.
During the strike, Republicans eliminated more than 100 proposed amendments. After giving a press conference to speak out against the bill, several Democrats returned to express their opposition to the measure, which has been debated in the legislature countless times in the past decade. Legislators approved the bill by a 79-35 vote. Two Democrats voted in favor of the ban and two Republicans voted against it.
“You love the fetus in the womb. But when it is born, it is a different reaction,” said Congresswoman Gilda Cobb-Hunter of Orangeburg, the oldest member of the House at 29. Cobb-Hunter noted how the General Assembly made the abortion bill a priority over education, several COVID-19 bills and almost everything else, and how some supporters of the ban refused any requirement earlier this year that they use masks while in plenary and committee meetings.
“‘The government has no role requiring face masks’ seems very close to ‘the government has nothing to say to a woman what to do with her body,'” said Cobb-Hunter.
Jeffrey Collins / AP
Several Republican lawmakers spoke in favor of the bill and many applauded after the vote. Supporters of the ban stood outside the House chambers applauding and embracing the legislators who pushed hardest for the measure.
Congresswoman Melissa Lackey Oremus said she was 16 and the first in her class when she had fun “a little one night – too much” and got pregnant.
The Aiken Republican, now 42 and a mother of three, said she didn’t know what to do until she rubbed an ultrasound wand on her belly and listened to her son’s heartbeat.
“That sound to me was, I had a human being inside me,” said Oremus. “That sound, it was the most beautiful sound for me. How could I have the choice to kill that sound, to make it go away?”
The debate was briefly interrupted by a Republican when Congressman Jonathon Hill, apparently irritated by his amendments to completely ban all abortions not being considered, broke into the central hall of the House, threw his amendments in the air and left.
Another representative collected the papers.
“If it had been me, I would have stayed on the floor and I would not have allowed him to return to the camera until he caught him,” said Mayor Jay Lucas. “We are a legislative body. We have a debate. We are not children. We don’t have tantrums when we lose.”
Hill was not immediately punished for his behavior.