S.C. House passes ‘near total’ abortion ban
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — For the second time since the U.S. Supreme Court ended federal abortion protections, the South Carolina House has passed a near-total abortion ban — and shows no sign of budging.
The lower chamber’s Republican supermajority on Wednesday continued its efforts to make South Carolina the 13th state with a ban from conception. By a 83-31 vote largely along party lines, the House advanced a bill including exceptions for rape, incest, fatal fetal anomaly and the patient’s health and life.
A long road awaits any abortion restriction before it reaches the governor’s desk. Republican lawmakers in the conservative state have failed to agree on when exactly pregnancy can be legally terminated. A special session last year proved a vain attempt to restrict abortion after the two chambers could not reconcile vastly different bills.
The stalemate persisted Wednesday.
The move again puts the House proposal at odds with the GOP-controlled Senate’s version that passed last week. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey has maintained that the upper chamber lacks the votes for the House’s more restrictive bill. Instead, Republican senators have advanced an amended version of the prior ban on abortion after cardiac activity is detected around six weeks. Earlier this year, the South Carolina Supreme Court struck down a similar 2021 law as a violation of the state constitution’s right to privacy in a 3-2 ruling.
