COLUMBIA, S.C. — Four of five South Carolina female senators on Wednesday blasted legislation that would ban nearly all abortions in the state and only offer limited exceptions that include if the pregnancy compromises the mother’s life and health.
One, a Republican from Charleston, called for the issue to be put on the ballot for a public vote — but, she said to her colleagues, “Y’all are scared.”
“I think it’s going to be interesting in the November elections to see what’s going to happen, because this issue is huge,” state Sen. Sandy Senn said. “Fifty-one percent of the population now are women. You don’t think that we’re going to vote on this? You don’t think that women will vote single-issue on something like this? Because they will.”
The Senate — made up of 30 Republicans and 16 Democrats — started its debate Wednesday on H. 5399 after the bill was advanced the day before by the Republican-majority Senate Medical Affairs Committee. The debate is expected to last days, unlike the House where it ended within a handful of hours.
As it reads, the bill seeks to ban nearly all abortions in the state without exceptions if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest.
The proposal makes an exception if the pregnancy complicates the mother’s life and health. And later Wednesday, the Senate voted by voice to adopt an amendment adding an exception for fatal fetal anomaly — an exception left out in the original House bill.
In a back-and-forth with state Sen. Billy Garrett, a McCormick Republican, over the fatal fetal anomaly exception, state Sen. Tom Davis, a Beaufort Republican, noted that Garrett backed adding the exception in the six-week ban.
“That was before Roe vs. Wade was in the background,” Garrett responded, adding that the child’s life has as much of a right as the mother.
The legislation also now would require state health plans to cover prescribed contraceptives for dependents and requires private health insurance in South Carolina to cover contraceptives.
The proposal does not require certain state agencies to provide access to contraceptives to anyone over age 13, nor does it expand sex health and reproductive health care education in schools after both proposals failed to pass.
“I appreciate the senator’s (Davis) effort in trying to expand access to contraceptives ... but I got some real heartburn on this one,” said Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, an Edgefield Republican, father to a young daughter, who supported Davis’ earlier amendment on contraceptives.
Senate puts fatal fetal anomaly exception in bill
The lack of certain exceptions in the bill’s original form “frankly shocked” state Sen. Penry Gustafson, a Kershaw Republican, she said on the floor early Wednesday.
Her and the other female senators’ comments followed those of anti-abortion Sen. Richard Cash, an Anderson Republican, who opened session prior to the debate by quoting scripture. State Sen. Mia McLeod, a Richland Democrat, who has opposed legislation restricting abortion access, had excused leave Wednesday.
“Doesn’t seem this bill regards the mother at all,” said Gustafson, who said she couldn’t vote for the bill without an exception for fatal fetal anomalies. “I don’t understand how S. 1 (the six-week abortion ban) ... it was so widely supported, why two years ago it was OK to consider a fatal fetal anomaly of a baby but today it’s totally no, can’t do that.”
Davis, who opposes the bill as written, proposed again Wednesday an amendment to add exceptions for rape and incest up until around 20 weeks of pregnancy — higher than the 12-week limit added by the House — but eliminate any requirement that the crime leading to an abortion be reported to law enforcement.
Asked whether he’d consider adding the reporting requirement back in, Davis said, “No.” Davis later said he would be open to adding the requirement if it could be part of passing what he considers a better bill.
In the end, Davis’ amendment was tabled by a 23-6 vote. All three Republican female senators voted against tabling. All Democrats did not vote.
“This soul-sucking effort to control a woman’s pregnancy, I’m sorry gentlemen, but I’m not going to participate any longer in this insulting and degrading debate,” said Sen. Margie Bright Matthews, a Colleton Democrat. “This is not your place.”
South Carolina’s current abortion ban law limits the procedure up to 20 weeks of pregnancy after the state Supreme Court temporarily blocked the six-week “fetal heartbeat” law that originally took effect shortly after Roe v. Wade was overturned in June.
After the high court’s injunction, many legislators, including some Republicans, have asked colleagues to let the six-week ban run its course instead of passing new legislation that would aim to completely ban the procedure.
State Sen. Katrina Shealy, a Lexington Republican who has championed legislation aimed at supporting women and children and is currently the longest-serving woman in the chamber, on Wednesday criticized the nearly all-male chamber of legislators for making decisions for women.
“To say it’s tough to be a woman in politics is an understatement,” Shealy said. “To say it’s really tough to be a woman in politics in South Carolina is hardly a statement at all. You can tell by looking around this room. You can tell by looking at the portraits on the wall of this room and in the House chamber and in the halls of the State House. You can tell how tough it is by some of the comments made by some of the people in the lobby. Things like, ‘Women aren’t fit to serve,’ that ‘God doesn’t want us here.’”
“Well, God’s pretty smart. If God didn’t want us here, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t be here.”
