What to know as the SC Legislature, Supreme Court contemplate abortion bans this week
After a summer of debates and disagreements, South Carolina lawmakers will meet Tuesday at 1 p.m. to discuss versions of an abortion ban that could do two things: completely ban abortions or make abortion access more restrictive.
However, a scheduled state Supreme Court hearing Wednesday is likely to change how lawmakers approach the issue.
Here's what you need to know:
Once the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade this past summer, state lawmakers were poised to hash out an abortion bill that was expected to be far more restrictive than last year's fetal heartbeat bill.
The majority of Republican lawmakers intended for the bill to replace the fetal heartbeat law, which bans abortions six weeks after the time of conception and is currently blocked due to a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood and Greenville Women's Clinic. Abortion remains legal in South Carolina for up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The lawsuit questions whether the fetal heartbeat law violates one's right to privacy, a fundamental right granted by the U.S. Constitution.
Debates engulfed parts of the state as pro-abortion and anti-abortion protestors took to the streets to counter each other. One protest in Greenville's downtown area saw community members questioning whether law enforcement officials disproportionally targeted pro-abortion protestors.
The House and Senate could not reach an agreement
After public testimonies where a majority of healthcare professionals said that messaging around abortion, led foremost by Republican lawmakers, was fraught with misinformation, the SC House of Representatives met in late August to consider H.5399 and passed an abortion ban, which included a blanket exception for the life of the mother and an exception for pregnancies resulting from rape and incest for up to 12 weeks.
While most House Republicans agreed upon passing some version of an abortion ban, major debate stemmed from the inclusion of exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape and incest. Rep. John McCravy, R-Greenwood, the lead sponsor of H.5399, wanted a total abortion ban that would have no exceptions, going as far as describing an abortion after rape "turning one tragedy into two." The bill would have also criminalized the procedure and would have led to a scenario where doctors could be prosecuted and could potentially lose their medical license.
However, several Republican lawmakers disagreed and voted with Democrats to fail a version with no exceptions. Ultimately, the bill that ended up passing banned all abortions except for in cases where the life of a mother was in danger, or where a pregnancy of up to 12 weeks resulted from rape and incest.
In the Senate, a similar dynamic played out.
Republican lawmakers such as Sen. Richard Cash, R-Anderson, who has for years introduced bills to ban abortion in the state, removed exceptions from the House's version, making the bill a total abortion ban. Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, and Sen. Josh Kimbrell, R-Spartanburg, introduced amendments that would reinstate the exceptions in the bill. However, those efforts were struck down, partly because female Republican senators joined Democrats to push the Senate to consider the most controversial version of the law since it had the best chance of being struck down.
Female Republican senators, joined by Davis, clashed with other GOP lawmakers several times. Soon, the Senate leadership realized that the chamber simply did not have the votes to pass any version of a total abortion ban.
Public comment:South Carolina Senate committee hears public comment on proposed abortion ban
Previous coverage:No new abortion ban expected in SC after House of Representatives rejects Senate revision
Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, introduced an amendment to H. 5399 that essentially rewrote the bill to become a stricter version of the state's six-week abortion ban. This bill included language where exceptions for lethal fetal anomalies had to be confirmed by two doctors.
Moreover, in cases of pregnancies due to incest and rape, doctors were required to report the resulting abortions to their county sheriff's office along with DNA from the aborted fetus to be kept by the sheriff's office as evidence.
Eventually, the bill passed and was shuttled back to the House for consideration, only to be rejected.
The House of Representatives voted 95-11 to reject the state Senate's revised version, likely ending the bill's chances of becoming law. House lawmakers told reporters that a conference committee, intended for three senators and three representatives to reach a compromise, could still save the bill from its expected demise.
However, Sen. Thomas Alexander, R-Walhalla, who is the Senate President, said that the senate leadership's primary concern, after it realized that it did not have the votes, was to strengthen the current fetal heartbeat law. Though the House's rejection of the senate version, he said, put those efforts at "severe risk."
What's next?
Lawmakers will meet to discuss the formation of a conference committee Tuesday at 1 p.m. Some lawmakers have hinted that that is expected to fail and are determined to revisit the issue once the new session starts next year when the legislature is expected to be more conservative after the election.
The SC Supreme Court will contemplate the blocked six-week heart bill. What it says will determine the fate of abortion access in South Carolina.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: What to know SC abortion ban: Statehouse, Supreme Court to decide
