Near-total abortion ban passes SC House, defying recent state Supreme Court decision

Women’s reproductive rights in South Carolina are again taking center stage, as a near-total abortion ban passed the House amid questions about a woman’s right to privacy.

Following an hours-long debate Wednesday, lawmakers in the S.C. House voted 83-31 to pass H.3774, a bill that would outlaw abortions from the point of conception except in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal abnormalities and the patient’s life.

The move comes just days after the state Senate’s so-called fetal heartbeat bill passed, a less restrictive measure that wouldn’t block abortions until after a heartbeat is detected, usually around the sixth week of pregnancy.

“When does life begin? That’s the ultimate question here,” said House Freedom Caucus Chairman state Rep. Adam Morgan, R-Greenville. “If life begins at conception, it should be protected.”

But these ongoing debates in the State House over how restrictive an abortion ban should be defy a recent state Supreme Court decision saying a six-week abortion ban is an unconstitutional violation of a woman’s right to privacy.

Religious sermon

Wednesday’s debate featured several lawmakers talking extensively about God’s will, while citing Bible verses in support of their position on the proposal.

Chief among them, state Rep. Josiah Magnuson, R-Spartanburg, offered multiple amendments to the measure, trying to remove exceptions for rape, incest and fatal fetal abnormalities, and to criminalize mothers who receive abortions.

“This is a line in the sand that I’m not willing to compromise, and I would be remiss not to bring this issue to the table and ask for your support to defend every human baby,” Magnuson said, classifying a fetus as a person. “God hates when we withdraw justice from the fatherless.

“We don’t make the laws. God makes the laws. We just enforce them and do what is right.”

Some Democrats took issue with Magnuson’s performance.

“I’m a Christian, but I don’t come to this body to be preached to by people who use religion to advance their political agendas,” said state Rep. Justin Bamberg, D-Bamberg. Instead, “I would encourage this body to look at the letter of the law.”

Besides creating a near-total abortion ban, the latest House proposal would also defund Planned Parenthood and require that fathers pay child support beginning at conception.

But ”point of conception” remains a sticking point among Democrats and Republicans, with the left and the right disagreeing on when life itself is considered to begin.

“Life beginning at conception is a scientific fact,” Morgan said, adding that “it is not a choice, it’s a child.”

GOP rationale questioned

Democrats have repeatedly questioned how some Republicans can vote for life in one instance by opposing abortions, but for death in another, pointing to a measure two years ago where a Republican-led General Assembly voted to resume executions by use of an electric chair or firing squad.

“There’s a difference between an innocent child and someone who has committed a heinous crime in killing someone and has been adjudged guilty,” state Rep. John McCravy, R-Greenwood, said in response.

Still, the GOP’s push for a more restrictive abortion ban than the state already has goes against a recent South Carolina Supreme Court ruling, further fueling Democrats’ arguments against the present bill.

“Just because we make the laws, does not give us the power to violate the Constitution,” Bamberg said, suggesting that Republicans try to circumvent the state’s Constitution whenever it doesn’t align with their interests.

Proponents of the original fetal heartbeat law that was struck down asked the state Supreme Court for a rehearing on the issue, but it was denied.

Beyond that, the Senate has maintained it is not in favor of passing an abortion ban shy of six weeks, which some Republicans in the House have readily acknowledged.

“The Senate has already said that they don’t like this bill,” Magnuson said. “So, we’re already voting on something the Senate has said they’re going to reject, so why not make it a good bill?”

The dueling bills have set the Legislature up for a possible repeat of last fall, when Republicans in both chambers could not agree on how to respond to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision striking down Roe v. Wade, allowing states to say whether abortion is legal within their borders. In light of Republicans’ disagreements, the General Assembly failed to pass any new abortion legislation last year.

Meanwhile, Democrats continued to push for a voter referendum on the issue by offering amendments during Wednesday’s debate. Those efforts, however, failed.

Democratic counter bill

One day prior to Wednesday’s debate, members of the Democratic caucus announced legislation to counter the GOP’s proposed abortion ban.

“We hear the women of South Carolina,” said state Rep. Spencer Wetmore, D-Charleston, at a news conference Tuesday.

“We hear you asking for the health care and the reproductive freedom that you need, so we’ve introduced a bill today that will bring dignity in allowing people to decide when and how to become parents,” she said, adding that while her proposal would codify Roe v. Wade, it would still prohibit late-term abortions.

House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, said Republican men should look to women on the issue.

“This Democratic Caucus realizes and recognizes that women are human beings, that women have minds and can decide for themselves what the guardrails ought to be as it relates to their own bodies and pregnancies, not a bunch of men,” Rutherford said at the news conference.