A Republican proposal that would effectively prohibit abortions in South Carolina is reaching the state Senate and, if its author has his way, the United States Supreme Court.
The bill, which was approved by a state Senate committee along party lines — a 12 to 9 vote — would grant legal rights to fertilized eggs from the moment of conception, according to The State. If passed, it would effectively make it impossible to receive a legal abortion in South Carolina. Because other so-called "Personhood laws" make a point of saying they are subject to the United States Constitution, while this one does not, it will quite likely be sent to the Supreme Court in the hope of overturning the landmark 1973 abortion rights case, Roe v. Wade.
That, apparently, is very much what its Senate author hopes to do.
"We are trying to challenge the Supreme Court on their fundamental error that a human being is not a person. A human being is a person," State Senator Richard Cash told The State.
Cash has also made it clear that he has a very hardline stance against abortion rights of any kind. The bill says doctors who terminate a pregnancy during a procedure that risks the mother's life must engage in "reasonable medical efforts" to save the fetus and does not make exceptions for abortions performed when the mother is the victim of rape or incest.
When confronted about the latter point by one of his colleagues, Democratic State Sen. Margie Bright Matthews, Cash insisted that while he believes the rape of children is "horrible," he also felt that "two wrongs don’t make a right. You cannot erase the rape by killing the child. The child is an innocent person."
The bill even failed to include language that could have clarified that it is not intended to outlaw birth control. Although it doesn't make birth control illegal, Cash argued that "birth control pills, the way that they are formulated, have and could change over time."
One Republican state senator who abstained from voting on the bill, Sen. Sandy Senn, explained that she did so because she didn't want to vote against an anti-abortion measure but also had reservations about the constitutionality of the current bill, according to The Post and Courier.
The approval of the South Carolina proposal comes in the middle of a week in which anti-abortion politicians have been making headlines with unusual frequency. The Wisconsin State Senate approved a bill that would make sure public workers' insurance does not cover abortion in most cases, according to The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
In Idaho, a group of college students who were scheduled to meet with Republican State Sen. Dan Foreman to discuss birth control and sex education were rudely rebuffed by the right-winger. Foreman was recorded shouting at them, "Abortion is murder. Next time you walk into my office, you'll be dealing with Idaho State Police."
He added, "I’m a Roman Catholic and a conservative Republican. I think what you guys are doing stinks."
Shares