South Carolina Senate Committee Advances Bill That Would Criminalize Abortions

Lawmakers in South Carolina are advancing legislation that would threaten women who receive abortions with jail time. Earlier this year, the legislature killed a similar version of the bill. But Tuesday marked a milestone for the legislation as the state senate’s medical affairs committee voted 8-4 to send Senate Bill 1095 to the full senate for a vote. The legislation would ban abortion and abortion drugs in most cases, except in cases when a doctor determines that it would be necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman. In 2021, South Carolina passed a bill prohibiting abortion in most cases, but it included an exemption for cases of rape and incest. The current bill would eliminate those exemptions.Additionally, under SB 1095, a woman who has an abortion could face a misdemeanor charge and up to two years in jail with a $1,000 fine.Someone who is convicted of performing an abortion, or providing abortion drugs to a woman, could face a felony charge, with a penalty of up to 20 years in jail, and a $100,000 fine. Lawmakers will have until May 14, the end of the legislative session, to pass the bill. However, it will face opposition from at least one Republican senator, Tom Davis, who told a local outlet, the State, that he will work to defeat the bill.“This law is so out of step with where South Carolinians are,” Mr. Davis said. “It does not create a culture of life. It creates a culture of surveillance, of family conflict, of legal terror.”Whether the bill is passed by the full senate, its sponsor, Senator Richard Cash, told the State that just getting it to the floor would be a “great accomplishment.”“It’s not going to be solved today or tomorrow, all across this country, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be trying to talk about it and trying to move the line for protecting human life forward,” he said. The director of public affairs of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, Vicki Ringer, criticized the bill, saying in a statement, “As this ban inches closer to the governor’s desk, it is becoming increasingly clear just how many of our lives anti-abortion lawmakers are willing to endanger in service to their agenda.”A group that supports the bill, Pro-Life Greenville, said in a statement, “Unborn children, like all human beings, deserve to have their lives protected under law here in the Palmetto State.”“Today’s vote by the SC Senate Medical Affairs Committee brings that urgent need one step closer to reality,” it added. Lawmakers in Tennessee attempted to pass a similar bill. However, last month, it failed to make it out of committee.

South Carolina Senate Committee Advances Bill That Would Criminalize Abortions

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