More restrictive SC abortion ban likely dead after House rejects Senate changes
Efforts to pass more restrictive abortion legislation in the S.C. State House are almost certainly doomed after the state House on Tuesday rejected a proposal that would ban abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy but would allow a narrow exception for abortions in cases of sexual assault up to about 12 weeks.
The House voted 95-11 Tuesday to send H. 5399 to the negotiating table among six legislators — three House members and three senators — to hash out their differences.
Many of the House’s more conservative members have pushed for a near-total ban on abortions in the state, saying that a six-week ban is not restrictive enough. But their Senate counterparts have indicated they are not likely to approve any ban on abortions under six weeks of pregnancy.
“I don’t believe we intended to come back to Columbia and work all summer to simply pass a law that we already have,” McCravy, who chairs the conservative Family Caucus and has advocated for a more restrictive ban, told his colleagues. “I certainly didn’t come back for that. I don’t think the members of the ad hoc committee came back for that, and I don’t think you came back for that.”
However, soon after the House vote, Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee, made it clear: The House’s move Tuesday “makes passing any version of H.5399 almost impossible.”
“The Senate’s previous votes show that the House’s version of the bill simply does not have enough support for passage. Unfortunately, the House’s approach likely forecloses any chance to fix issues in our ‘Fetal Heartbeat’ law raised by the South Carolina Supreme Court,” said Alexander, who voted this month to pass the six-week ban.
“The House’s action today puts these efforts at severe risk.”
In 2021, the Legislature passed an abortion ban that limits the procedure after a fetal heartbeat is detected, typically around six weeks of pregnancy. But the ban, despite taking effect shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, has been suspended after groups like Planned Parenthood sued questioning its constitutionality.
The state’s high court is scheduled to start oral arguments Oct. 19.
With the court hearing in sight and the House’s vote Tuesday, Ann Warner, CEO of the Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network, said in a statement that the fight for abortion rights is far from over.
“... There are many lawmakers who will continue push for a total abortion ban. The majority of South Carolinians are opposed to this outrageous intrusion into our private lives, and WREN will continue to demand that our rights and dignity are respected by lawmakers,” she said.
Will lawmakers find a compromise?
Post-Roe, lawmakers returned to Columbia for a special session to debate an abortion ban.
Though the House advanced a near-total abortion ban in August, Senate Republicans, who hold the chamber majority with 30 members, could not muster enough support this month to pass a similar ban. Instead, senators reversed the proposal back to a six-week ban but with narrowed exceptions.
The current legislation would ban abortions once fetal cardiac activity is detected, at around six weeks. It allows doctors to do the procedure if the pregnancy threatens a woman’s life and if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest, but those latter exceptions would only apply up to about 12 weeks of pregnancy, rather than the 20 weeks allowed under the current abortion law.
In the cases of those exceptions, the abortion must be reported to a county sheriff no later than 24 hours after the procedure, and the doctor must take a DNA sample from the aborted fetus.
Doctors also could do an abortion if the fetus were unable to survive outside the mother’s womb, but the proposed law would require that the anomaly be confirmed by two doctors, an addition to the bill made by the Senate.
“I think we realized as a (Republican) caucus that the exemptions have to be in there,” House Majority Leader Davey Hiott, R-Pickens, told reporters after the vote. “We don’t have the votes to pass it without exemptions. We showed that, two or three weeks ago. So the exemptions have to be in there.”
With the House in agreement over exceptions, the sticking point comes down to the procedure’s limit at six weeks.
Senate Republican Leader Shane Massey has been clear: Any bill that bans abortions earlier than six weeks will not have enough support in the upper chamber to pass. That was evident earlier this month after Senate Republicans were unable to stop a filibuster by a member of their own party and pass an even more restrictive abortion ban.
“I don’t see a path to do anything else,” Massey, an Edgefield Republican, told The State Tuesday.
Gov. Henry McMaster, who is up for reelection in November, has said he hopes there comes a time when no one wants or needs an abortion. He has said he’ll sign any legislation lawmakers send him. Asked Tuesday what the compromise should be, the governor told a reporter with The State that it’s up to the Legislature, but said there’s “no reason” why the Legislature can’t compromise and send him a bill.
It may be unlikely, however, the governor will have a bill to sign.
First, there’s the problem of compromise. Second, there’s a problem of time since there’s a general election Nov. 8.
“Here’s the sad thing about all of this: Nov. 8, it’s all a moot subject because the whole House changes,” said Sen. Katrina Shealy, R-Lexington, who voted with Senate Democrats this month against the abortion ban.
The Senate could return to Columbia some time in October to insist on their changes.
Hiott and McCravy both told reporters Tuesday that they did not regret the House vote if the Senate refuses to come back or if negotiators are unable to reach an agreement before Election Day.
“Look, we’ll do whatever we have to do,” McCravy said. “I’m committed to coming up here till midnight if I have to. And I think people who believe this issue is important will do the same thing.”
This story was originally published September 27, 2022 at 5:13 PM with the headline "More restrictive SC abortion ban likely dead after House rejects Senate changes."
