COLUMBIA, S.C. — Heavy pressure from mainly conservative South Carolinians failed to persuade the state Senate to agree to a near-total abortion ban, further dooming the push for more restrictive legislation this year.
The 17-26 vote refusing to revert H. 5399 back to the restrictive House version came as no surprise after Senate Republican leaders had made it clear for weeks that the votes did not exist in the upper chamber to pass a near-total abortion ban, nor a bill that excluded an exception for fatal fetal anomalies.
The Senate decision to insist on its version by a 38-6 vote of the abortion bill, a more narrow six-week ban, triggers a negotiation phase with the House. But with less than a month before the the sine die agreement — a resolution that outlines what the Legislature can return to deal with after session ends in May — ends Nov. 13, it’s unclear if the two sides will ever meet or, even if they do meet, come to an agreement.
Similar to other states, the South Carolina Legislature took up access to abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which sent the power to further restrict abortion back to the states.
The state already has on the books a six-week abortion ban, known as the “fetal heartbeat” law, with a handful of exceptions for sexual assault, fatal fetal anomaly and the mother’s life. The South Carolina Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on the law — now temporarily blocked by the high court — Wednesday morning over whether the law violates the state’s constitutional right to privacy.
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