abortion bill

South Carolina senators have rejected a ban on almost all abortions in a special session. Republicans had a majority of votes to pass the ban, but Republican Sen. Tom Davis threatened to filibuster and proponents of the ban were two votes short of the means of ending such a tactic. Davis was joined by the three Republican women senators, a fifth GOP colleague and all the chamber's Democrats to oppose the proposed ban. Senators did pass a few changes to the six-week ban, including cutting the time that victims of rape and incest who become pregnant can seek an abortion from 20 weeks to about 12 weeks and requiring that DNA from the aborted fetus be collected for police.

South Carolina senators are moving toward a showdown on a proposal to ban abortion and make no exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest. Senators failed twice to get the exceptions back into the bill Wednesday. A number of the 30 Republicans in the 46-member Senate say they can't support the bill without the exceptions because they don't want 14-year-old rape victims to have to give birth. On the other side, are Republicans who consider any abortion to be a crime that ends a life. Democrats have been united against the bill.

South Carolina's Senate debate on an abortion ban that would no longer include exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest started Wednesday with the chamber's three Republican women taking a stand against a bill they said doesn't respect women and doesn't respect life. On one side are absolutists who say any abortion ends a life. On the other are conservatives who have been watching developments in other states since Roe v. Wade was overturned. They don't want to force 14-year-old rape victims to give birth, or have mothers risk death by carrying fetuses that can't survive outside the womb. Democrats say they won't help Republicans change an awful bill into a very bad bill.

While the results of this month's Kansas abortion vote have shaken some Republicans' appetite for additional restrictions, South Carolina lawmakers on Wednesday advanced a ban with limited exceptions. By a 67-35 vote, the South Carolina House sent the Senate a bill banning abortion with exceptions only when the pregnancy risks the mother's health or up to 12 weeks when it is the result of rape or incest. Republicans are no longer constrained by federal law as they craft abortion bans. But that reality is highlighting divisions within the party like the ones that arose Tuesday when House leaders recessed to discuss the vote.

The South Carolina House has approved a bill that outlaws abortion except in the cases of pregnancies caused by rape or incest. The chamber initially rejected the bill that did not have the exceptions Tuesday. But once Republicans saw the outcome of that vote, they quickly went through a number of complex procedures and votes to bring the bill back from the brink of failure. The exceptions were added on a voice vote and the bill passed 67-38. The bill has one more routine vote before it goes to the Senate, where stricter bans on abortions have seen tougher fights.

This week lawmakers will consider outlawing nearly all abortions even as the South Carolina Supreme Court temporarily halts a six week ban.

A near total abortion ban in South Carolina that doesn't include exceptions for pregnancies' caused by rape or incest was sent to the state House floor Tuesday but not without hints and warnings that the lack of exceptions could cause a big legislative fight in a few weeks. The House Judiciary Committee voted 13-7 to approve the ban. All yes votes were from Republicans and all votes against the bill from Democrats. But three Republican committee members who were at the meeting did not vote. South Carolina currently has a six-week ban passed in 2021 that went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The full House will likely debate the bill at a special session called by House Speaker Murrell Smith in the next few weeks.

National advocacy groups and hundreds of demonstrators have descended on the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse grounds to testify before lawmakers considering new abortion-related measures after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. A 21-year-old college student speaking against abortion access Thursday shared the story of her own birth, when doctors advised her parents to get an abortion after an ultrasound showed a severely underdeveloped leg and a cyst on her brain. In his testimony against additional restrictions, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Joe Cunningham noted the story of a 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio who recently traveled out-of-state for an abortion.

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month it stated that it was time to return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives, meaning state or federal lawmakers. Surveys by news organizations indicate that about half of the states are now expected to restrict or enact laws making abortion illegal. South Carolina is among them, and later today in Columbia the legislative process to do that will begin with a public hearing by a special State House of Representatives Committee.