COLUMBIA, SC (AP) – The South Carolina House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a bill banning almost all abortions, following other states with similar measures that would take effect as U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade would be overthrown.
The bill will be voted in the House on Thursday in a final process that is unlikely to change the outcome, and will then be sent to the governor for his signature. Republican Gov. Henry McMaster has vowed to sign the measure as soon as possible.
The Senate approved the measure on January 28 after years of failed attempts. Republicans won three seats in the 2020 election and the newly-qualified 30-16 Republican majority passed Bill no. 1 proposed by the Senate.
“This is the largest pro-life bill this state has ever passed,” said Republican Rep. David Hiott of Pickens.
The “South Carolina fetal heartbeat and protection against abortion Requires doctors to perform ultrasound to examine the heartbeat of the fetus. If one is detected, the abortion can only be performed if the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest or the mother’s life is in danger.
The bill would not punish a pregnant woman for the illegal abortion, but the person who performed the abortion could be charged with an offense, sentenced to two years and fined $ 10,000 if guilty. be found.
About a dozen other states have adopted similar or more restrictive abortion bans, which could take effect as the U.S. Supreme Court – with three judges appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump – Roe v. .
Groups opposed to the bill are likely to sue, and thus the law will not come into force. All the prohibitions adopted by other states were captured in court challenges.
Although the approval of the Huisgenoot on Wednesday was almost a foregone conclusion, the road to it was rocky. One Republican lawmaker who wanted a stricter law that fetuses have the rights of all citizens at conception, threw up his papers and stormed out in a commotion that angered the speaker. Most Democrats walked out of the room to protest the bill. They had to return when a member of the party leaving and returning made the rare request that the clerk read the entire bill aloud before the vote, which the Republicans asked all legislators to be present.
During the march, Republicans wiped out more than 100 proposed amendments. After a news conference was held to speak out against the bill, several Democrats returned to voice their opposition to the measure, which has been raised in the legislature several times over the past decade. Legislators approved the bill by a vote of 79-35. Two Democrats voted in favor of the ban, and two Republicans voted against it.
‘You love the fetus in the womb. But when it’s born, it’s a different reaction, “said Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter of Orangeburg, the House’s longest-serving member at age 29. Cobb-Hunter noted how the General Assembly passed the abortion bill. priority over education, several COVID-19 bills and almost all others, and how some supporters deviate from the ban on any requirement earlier this year that they wear masks while on the floor and in committee meetings.
“The government has no business that instructs face masks,” sounds very close to me, “the government has no business telling a woman what to do with her body,” Cobb-Hunter said.
Numerous Republican lawmakers spoke in favor of the bill and many cheered after the vote. Supporters of the ban walked outside the living rooms, cheering and embracing lawmakers.
Rep. Melissa Lackey Oremus said she was 16 and was the best in her class when she had a little fun one night – too much ‘and got pregnant.
The Republican from Aiken and now the 42-year-old mother of three said she was not sure what to do before she had an ultrasound bar rubbed over her stomach and heard her child’s heartbeat.
“The sound to me was that I had a human inside me,” Oremus said. ‘That sound, it was the most beautiful sound to me. How can I have the choice to kill that sound, to make it disappear? ‘
The debate was briefly halted by a Republican when Rep. Jonathon Hill, apparently angry that his amendments to ban all abortions altogether had not been considered, rushed to the center of the House, threw his amendments into the air, and walked out.
Another representative picked up the papers.
“If it was me, it would have stayed on the floor and I would not have allowed him into the room again until he picked it up,” said House Speaker Jay Lucas. “We are a legislative body. We have debate. We are not children. We do not throw tantrums if we lose. ”
Hill was not immediately punished for his behavior.
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