Aiken S.C. House member shares story of teenage pregnancy with ad hoc abortion committee

Jul. 20—The Aiken County representative on the South Carolina House of Representatives ad hoc committee tasked with making a recommendation on the state's abortion laws chose life when she was 16, pregnant and feeling pressure to get an abortion.

S.C. Rep. Melissa Oremus, R-Graniteville, shared her story Tuesday afternoon before the committee voted to recommend language of a bill that would prohibit abortions except for in cases where the life or bodily health of the mother was in danger.

She spoke to the committee four days after the death of her father.

"Knowing him, he would tell me to go to work and just forget about him," Oremus told the committee before she shared her story. "It's kind of hard to do; but if it [her father's death] has done anything, it's reminded me how precious life really truly is."

The story she shared begins when she was 16 years old and pregnant.

"It was not the ideal situation," Oremus said. "It was kind of an oops moment, and I was faced with that decision. Do I abort? Or do I keep going as life and the status quo?"

Oremus said her friends and those around her encouraged her to get an abortion so she could "go on and live" her life.

"I was super smart, top of my class, had a lot going for me, had scholarships to college," Oremus continued. "I was angry. I was angry at myself that I allowed this to happen to me. I say allowed this to happen to me, because I was very much aware of the consequences of having unprotected sex. I made that decision."

Oremus said she thought she would be one of the teenagers who could have unprotected sex and get away with it.

But she wasn't.

And she chose life when she had the choice.

"I can tell you that my beautiful, 26-year-old daughter is happy to be here," Oremus continued. "She's happy to be alive. She's happy to live through the hard times that we had. It made her a better person, a strong woman."

On the proposed bill, Oremus also said she was happy to see that the bill protected alternative reproductive therapies and in-vitro fertilization. She said her twins were conceived through IVF.

She called for an expansion of programs to explain the potential consequences of unprotected sex to appropriately aged minors. She added she has had conversations of that nature with her own children.

Oremus said society can't be scared to have those conversations at school and at church. Oremus said children need to understand if they're going to make adult decisions, they will face adult consequences.

"I'm one of those women who got pregnant," Oremus said. "Nobody forced me to do it. And I had a decision to make. When do we start taking responsibility for our actions? When do we start saying (we) need to educate our young women?"

She called for putting money that would go to abortions into crisis pregnancy centers echoing a suggestion from S.C. Rep. Heather Crawford, R-Horry.

Oremus also said she would like to see a father's clause added to the language in the proposed bill that would allow a father wanting a child to have the mother carry the child to term, give birth and then give the child to the father.

She said last time she checked, it took two people to create a child; and that the father should have options, too.

Oremus also said she was angered by the slogan used by pro-choice advocates, "My body, my choice." She said the slogan drives her crazy.

"Once there is another life growing in you, then it's another body; and it's not their choice," Oremus said. "They're looking to their parent to protect them, to carry them through so that they could be born. Just like Rep. [Jeff] Johnson said, so they could have the opportunity to live their life."

She said abortion shouldn't happen because someone has an oops moment.

Oremus said all the women she knows who have had an abortion are haunted by it, whether they did so because they were forced to do it by a parent, a friend, a boyfriend or a boyfriend looking to cover up a rape.

"I can tell you that I've heard those stories from so many women, and I can tell you that they mourn the loss of that child," she continued. "For those that don't [feel that loss] and they use abortion as a form of birth control, I'm sorry for your soul; and I'm sorry that you feel no remorse for it."

Her voice shook as she discussed the most recent abortion statistics released by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

The most recent information from the department says there were over 5,000 abortions performed in South Carolina in 2021.

"I have to think about that 5,000 kids that we killed last year," Oremus said. "What are they doing? Are they rejoicing in heaven watching their parents fight for more murder?"

Oremus said she couldn't understand how a person could have a child and then opt for an abortion when pregnant again. She said she would pray for those people that the abortion would be another blip in their radar.

She said she rejected the argument that the committee needed to address the concerns of the people protesting outside the committee's meeting location and not God. She said she slept well knowing she answered to the almighty.