Unborn Child Protection Act faces backlash from pro-life groups ahead of key testimony

FILE – South Carolina state house (Photo credit: WLOS Staff)

(WCIV) — In an unprecedented move, two pro-life organizations have announced their opposition to the Unborn Child Protection Act Wednesday, just hours before the State Medical Affairs Subcommittee is set to hear public testimony on the bill.

The Unborn Child Protection Act, also known as Senate Bill 323 is a near-total abortion ban that would criminalize an abortion, or aiding an abortion, as a Felony. The legislation could also have an effect on miscarriage care, contraception and fertility treatment.

In their statement, South Carolina Citizens for Life says that the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 returned abortion regulation back to elected state and federal legislators, giving them the opportunity to create policies that could stand the test of time. The organization considered this a win for their efforts. However, they say that criminalizing woman who have an abortion, as Senate Bill 323 does, is inconsistent with their views of protecting both unborn children and their mothers.

“Criminalizing women who have an abortion is inconsistent with our decades of work to legally protect both the unborn and the mother. Pro-lifers understand better than anyone else the desire to punish the purveyors of abortion who act callously and without regard to the dignity of human life. But turning women who have abortions into criminals, as S323 does, is not the way,” their statement reads.

They claim that women are also victims of abortion and require support and access to counseling and social services in the days, weeks, months, and years following an abortion. Something that S323 would prevent. Rather than criminalizing post-aborted women, South Carolina Citizens for Life says that abortion providers are the ones who should be held legally accountable.

Additionally Palmetto Family Alliance President Steve Pettit issued a statement, expressing similar disapproval of the bill.

They state that they are concerned with several provisions proposed in the bill, most notably the criminalization of women and the provision to compel testimony from pregnancy care center’s staff and volunteers against their clients.

In the statement they say that they appreciate the work of several pro-life senators, however they will not support the bill as it is proposed currently.

This comes just before over 300 people are set to testify, raising their own concerns on the bill.