SC Senate passes 6-week abortion ban bill

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — A 6-week abortion ban has passed in both the House and now the Senate after a 27 to 19 vote this evening. 

The so-called fetal heartbeat bill now heads to the governor’s desk but it may face another challenge.

“To say I’m depressed is a feeling I have. I’m sad,” said Republican Sen. Katrina Shealy. 

After voting for Senate bill S.474 weeks ago, Shealy did not vote for the same bill after the House made changes to it. Instead, she offered her own version of a compromise, a 12-week abortion ban.

“It was a disappointment because I think I made an impassioned plea. We got 21 votes on that amendment,” Shealy said. “If only I could’ve switched two more and I did go around and ask. We just couldn’t get enough votes to get to 12 weeks.”

Shealy’s fellow Republican senator Richard Cash does not believe in abortion after conception and supports the stricter abortion ban that the House passed.

“Implicit in that kind of question is the idea that there is a right to kill a baby. Once you find out you’re pregnant, you have a right to kill or not kill a human being,” Sen. Cash said. “I don’t accept that premise. I don’t think all women accept that premise. I have a wife, four daughters and two daughters-in-law. They’re all going to be happy this bill passed and would have liked to see the Human Life Protection Act passed.”

While abortion will still be legal in South Carolina up to 6 weeks, Cash believes that the bill the Senate passed today will prevent the majority of abortions.

“When we had the Heartbeat Bill in effect last summer, the average number of abortions fell by about 65 percent during that 7-week period of time,” Cash said. “There’s going to be babies born as a result of this law that would have otherwise not been born. I’m concerned about the babies that are going to be killed before 6 weeks so the fight will continue. If I’m still here, there will be a renewed effort to protect life at an earlier point in time.”

The bill now heads to the governor’s desk, but there is expected to be another legal challenge.

The last 6-week abortion ban bill passed by the General Assembly was blocked earlier this year by the South Carolina Supreme Court.

“We have to wait and see what they do. If the supreme court does not accept this, we will be back on this same bill again,” Shealy concluded.