This bill would ban abortions beyond six weeks, a time at which many people do not realize they are pregnant. While the bill does provide some exceptions, they are so onerous and burdensom that they will not be practically useful many instances.
We oppose this bill because:
The choice to have an abortion should be made by a patient and their physician, because abortion is healthcare.
The latest on this bill:
In February of this year, the Senate passed S. 474, which is a six-week ban on abortion with limited exceptions. It then went to the House, where it sat in committee without a hearing for about three months.
In late April, the Senate failed to pass the House's near-total abortion ban, thanks to a bipartisan effort led by the women of the SC Senate.
In the final days of the regular legislative session, the House fast tracked the bill through committee. After it passed out of committee, House Democrats proposed more than 1,000 amendments to the bill, each of which will need to be debated prior to the bill receiving a vote. The legislature is now in a special session, during which one of their priorities will be to pass an abortion ban. Important to know: Many of the Senators who voted against the near-total ban have already voted for this bill. Also, in January of this year, the state Supreme Court declared the previous six-week abortion ban unconstitutional. Since the makeup of the court has changed and is now the only all-male state supreme court, it can't be assumed that the outcome would be the same.
Near the end of a legislative special session, the six-week ban was signed into law. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic has filed suit to stop the ban, and was awarded an injunction, meaning that for now abortion remains legal in South Carolina.
