COLUMBIA, S.C. — A Republican-led House panel advanced legislation Tuesday that would outlaw nearly all abortions in South Carolina but make an exception for the life and health of the mother.
The House Judiciary Committee voted 13-7 largely along party lines Tuesday to send H. 5399 to the House floor for what is expected to be a contentious debate.
Five legislators, two of whom did not attend Tuesday’s hearing, did not vote on the bill.
“What we do matters,” said a visibly emotional Pickens County Rep. Neal Collins, one of three Republicans who did not vote on the bill, before his remarks were cut short by Judiciary Chairman Chris Murphy, R-Dorchester. “Out of respect for the process, I’m not voting today. But I want to be clear that myself and many others are not in a position to vote for this bill without significant changes to the bill.”
Legislators are scheduled to return to session Aug. 30, with the Senate to follow after Labor Day.
The legislation outlaws nearly all abortions, but does list different medical emergencies for which doctors can perform abortions to protect the life and health of the mother. Rape and incest exceptions are not included, though they are currently allowed under the state’s six-week abortion ban and their removal is unlikely to get wide support in the Senate. The bill does not include specific language related to fetal anomalies, an exception included in current law.
State Rep. John McCravy, a Greenwood Republican who led the bill’s drafting, said the legislation does not aim to prohibit contraception or restrict assisted reproductive treatment, like in vitro fertilization. Nor, he said, does it seek to subject women who seek abortions to prosecution or restrict interstate travel.
“This bill does not mimic the language of any model bill or any other bill in the nation,” said McCravy, chairman of the Family Caucus that advocates for conservative legislation. “This bill is not the result of any national group effort. It is completely unique to the state of South Carolina, and only gives special status to the input of medical professionals in our state.”
The law does, however, closely mirror what other states have passed after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a 1973 landmark case that constitutionally protected the right to have an abortion.
Current law in South Carolina allows for abortions until fetal cardiac activity is detected, typically occurring at around six weeks of pregnancy when, abortion rights advocates argue, most women don’t know that they are pregnant.
The proposal before the House was advanced Tuesday after a separate committee charged by Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, took hours of testimony last month from pastors, doctors, lawyers and anti-abortion and abortion rights advocates.
“Our ad hoc committee held a hearing where the only invited expert was a lawyer for National Right to Life. She likened abortion to organized crime and recommended that doctors face racketeering-style prosecution usually reserved for gang members, drug lords and criminal kingpins,” state Rep. Spencer Wetmore, D-Charleston, read from prepared remarks at an earlier subcommittee hearing. “Republicans are passing a bill that will ban abortion, throw doctors in jail, and kill women.”
Republicans hold the majorities in both the South Carolina House and Senate. But the removal of rape and incest exceptions in any abortion ban is largely expected to be the point of contention among both Republican and Democratic legislators.
“I won’t vote for anything that doesn’t ensure that rape and incest exceptions are available to minors,” state Rep. Micah Caskey, a Lexington Republican who did note vote on the legislation, told The State after the hearing. “That’s a starting point for me.”
And in the Senate, where Republicans hold 30 seats to Democrats’ 16, an abortion ban without those exceptions likely won’t get enough votes to pass. The upper chamber last year added exceptions back in the six-week ban, in what Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said is “the best indication” of where senators stand.
“From what I’ve heard from people, from senators, I haven’t gathered that there’s any backing up on that,” Massey told The State. “I think the question is whether the Senate can pass (the bill) even with those exceptions. We’ll see what the House does, where we are. From what I’m hearing from people, I don’t think you back up from the exceptions that are in ‘heartbeat.’ The question is how much support you have going forward even with those.”
House Republicans repeated Tuesday the bill still has a ways to go until Gov. Henry McMaster signs it — a sign the House debate could stretch more than one day.
“I intend to support this bill today here at committee, but with the understanding that this is a starting process with a number of issues that need to be debated and considered as a part of this bill, including the exceptions in the existing law,” said state Rep. Weston Newton, R-Beaufort. “Rather than synthesize all of these issues with this small group, ... it makes more sense, and I believe it is more appropriate, to allow 124 members to work through the various issues upon the House floor.”
Several Democrats, however, took their turn Tuesday detailing why the state should not pass the bill.
The state has not done enough to protect mothers and children, some said. Others, like Democratic Richland Rep. Seth Rose, criticized the Legislature for failing to pass what they said were more important priorities, such as Medicaid expansion gun violence prevention.
“This is one of the rare times that I’ve got to say I’m ashamed to be a part of this body pushing legislation like this,” Rose said.
Tuesday’s hearing was the House’s final meeting on the bill, a hearing that lasted roughly two hours as Chairman Murphy interrupted legislators for speaking too long and asked members to keep their remarks brief.
At one point during the hearing, Murphy stopped remarks from state Rep. Justin Bamberg, D-Bamberg, who had spoken previously but asked for another opportunity to speak against the bill, prompting Bamberg to briefly leave the hearing room. As Rep. Collins, Bamberg’s desk mate, read a list of facts about women and children’s health, Murphy also stopped Collins, telling him he’d have an opportunity to speak further on the House floor.
Separately, the Senate Medical Affairs Committee will hold its public listening session Wednesday morning.
The upper chamber is expected to debate the legislation that is voted out of the House.
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