South Carolina House members began a debate Tuesday on a new total ban on abortion with no exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest even as some Republicans in the GOP-dominated chamber suggested they can’t vote for the bill as written.
But if the exceptions are put into the bill, the chamber’s most conservative members could join with Democrats to kill the bill, too.
On the day before the debate, one of the most conservative House lawmakers said 20 Republicans signed his letter saying they would not commit to voting for the total ban with the rape and incest exceptions, which with the 43 Democrats’ votes against would be enough to kill the bill.
Less than an hour after debate began, lawmakers voted on changing the bill to include the rape and incest exceptions. It failed on a 75-25 vote, with almost all the House’s Democrats joining more conservative Republicans.
Some form of the exceptions could come back later in the debate, but it was an indication Democrats want to force Republicans to have to vote on an extreme form of the legislation.
“I’m curious why we’re interested in playing political games today,” Republican Rep. Micah Caskey said. “I guess that’s just the state of affairs and that’s how we’re going to do it for the next couple of days.”
Other changes voted down early in the debate included language supporters said would protect in vitro ferritization and birth control, and proposals that would make it a misdemeanor with a maximum two-year prison sentence if a pregnant woman “intentionally commits an abortion.”
About 100 people gathered in the Statehouse lobby for the debate. Law enforcement closed the House galley Tuesday.
“This is going to be one of the toughest issues we have dealt with. This institution has been here a lot longer than we have. This institution requires we treat each other with dignity and respect,” Republican House Speaker Murrell Smith said as Tuesday’s session opened. The debate was civil.
South Carolina currently has a six-week ban but the South Carolina Supreme Court suspended the law earlier this month while the justices decide on a Planned Parenthood lawsuit that says the ban is an unreasonable invasion of privacy under the state constitution. The decision leaves South Carolina’s abortion ban at 20 weeks for now.
Supporters of the total ban in South Carolina want to follow the lead of Indiana, which earlier in August passed a total ban to go into effect on Sept. 15 with exceptions for rape, incest and if the mother’s life is in danger. West Virginia’s House and Senate couldn’t agree on stricter abortion rules in a July session.
Thirteen states have so-called trigger laws designed to outlaw most abortions when the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the constitutional right to end a pregnancy in June.
South Carolina leaders have watched those developments carefully, as well as events several weeks ago in Kansas, where nearly 60% of voters rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed the state’s conservative Legislature to ban abortion. Republican Donald Trump received 56% of the 2020 presidential vote in Kansas. Trump won 55% in South Carolina.
Republican leaders in the South Carolina House allowed for the speaker to call the special session after the leak of a draft opinion indicating the U.S. Supreme Court would allow states to ban abortion. Lawmakers started working on the total ban after Roe v. Wade was overturned in June.
The bill currently allows abortions if a mother’s life is in danger and then lists a number of different medical emergencies that would fit into that exception.
The South Carolina House has 80 Republicans, 43 Democrats and one vacancy. The bill needs a majority vote to be sent to the Senate, where stricter bans on abortions have seen tougher fights.
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster hasn’t given his opinion on this specific bill but has said he would like to see a day where there are no abortions in the state.
Pollard is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
