Republican lawmakers in the South Carolina state legislature have introduced a bill that would equate an abortion of a fetus or an embryo to the murder of a living, already-born person, allowing the state, if passed into law, to convict and possibly execute a person if they obtain abortion services.
House Bill 3549 would amend a proposed bill, entitled the South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act of 2023, to define fetuses and embryos at any stage of development after conception as legal persons. Any instance of an abortion would be considered an assault and/or homicide under the bill's provisions.
