SC Democrats walk out to protest restrictive abortion bill

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Nearly all of the Democratic members of the South Carolina House walked out of the chamber in protest Wednesday before a vote on a bill that would ban nearly all abortions in the state. Republican members are expected to pass the measure easily and it will soon go to Republican Gov. Henry McMaster for his signature.

The proposal passed the Senate on Jan. 28. If the House passes it, it will face a final procedural vote on Thursday that likely won’t change the outcome. McMaster has promised to sign it as soon as possible.

A few Democrats stayed behind as Republicans wiped out more than 100 proposed amendments. After holding a news conference to speak against the bill, several other Democrats returned to express their opposition to the measure, which has come up for debate in the legislature numerous times over the past decade.

“You love the fetus in the womb. But when it is born, it’s a different reaction,” said Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter of Orangeburg, the House’s longest serving member at 29 years.

Numerous Republican lawmakers spoke in favour of the bill.

Rep. Melissa Lackey Oremus said plenty of women have mixed feelings when they get pregnant, especially when they aren’t where they want to be in their life. But the Republican from Aiken said that’s no reason for abortion.

“They don’t deserve to die just because their mother made a bad choice one night,” Oremus said.

The measure requires doctors to perform ultrasounds to check for a heartbeat in the fetus. If one is detected, the abortion can only be performed if the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest or the mother’s life is in danger.

About a dozen other states have passed similar or more restrictive abortion bans, which could take effect if the U.S. Supreme Court — with three justices appointed by former President Donald Trump — were to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court decision supporting abortion rights.

Groups against the “ South Carolina Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act ” will likely sue, keeping the law from going into effect. All of the bans passed by other states are tied up in court challenges.

For years, the bill has failed to pass the Senate in South Carolina. But Republicans gained three seats in the 2020 elections and the newly energized 30-16 Republican majority made the proposal Senate Bill No. 1 and finally pushed it over a procedural hurdle.

Republicans have urged people who want to see even more restrictions put on abortion to avoid changing the bill to make sure it passes. The only change so far was in the Senate to add exemptions for pregnancies caused by rape and incest.

The bill would not punish a pregnant woman for getting an illegal abortion, but the person who performed the abortion could be charged with a felony, sentenced up to two years and fined $10,000 if found guilty.

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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.