SPECIAL SESSION CONTINUES: SC House members drag on abortion ban bill debate

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — For almost a year, the South Carolina House and Senate have failed to agree on an abortion ban bill.

The proposed bills have also brought a lot of opposition from pro-choice Democrats in both chambers.

“Today and the next few days that we’re here debating this, we are voting against women. I can’t say that any more strongly than that,” said Rep. Beth Bernstein, a Democrat from Columbia. 

This week, Democrats in the House have proposed almost a thousand amendments to a proposed abortion ban bill coming from the Senate. 

“No one, especially the 170 members of the South Carolina General Assembly which is mostly men, should stand between a woman and her doctor,” Bernstein said. “Banning abortion is not protecting a woman’s health.”

Bernstein’s colleague Justin Bamberg agrees that women should have access to abortion. He believes abortion bans would have a negative impact on South Carolinians in rural areas. 

“As we’ve said time and time again, there are over a dozen counties in this state that do not have an OB GYN,” Rep. Bamberg said. “There are counties and towns in this state that don’t even have doctors.”

The hundreds amendments presented by House Democrats forced lawmakers to stay at the statehouse into the early hours of Tuesday morning. A computer issue forced them to break for a few hours, before the debate resumed.

“We have to save lives. We have to save children. That’s what matters right now,” said Republican Rep. Josiah Magnuson from Spartanburg. 

Over the past two days, hundreds of amendments have been rejected and hundreds more have been thrown out.

Republicans in the House have accused their Democrat colleagues of wasting time… but Republicans in the Senate say the same thing about those in the House.

“We’re trying to do what the people of South Carolina want. Around 70 percent of South Carolinians have said that they want what we’ve been standing up for,” said Republican Sen. Katrina Shealy from Lexington. 

The House’s proposed bill prohibits abortion from conception with few exceptions. The Senate version outlaws abortion after 6 weeks of pregnancy.

Thursday afternoon, lawmakers in the House were debating Amendments in the 800s. How much longer is left in the abortion debate remains to be seen.