COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Republicans are pushing new abortion restrictions in a late attempt to curtail access after a near-total ban failed last month.
A Senate bill that would ban abortion except in the earliest weeks of pregnancy is moving quickly through the South Carolina House in the first sign that Republican leaders may be close to restoring limits passed in 2021 but overturned by the state Supreme Court.
The effort cleared two hurdles Tuesday. Lawmakers advanced the proposal through a morning subcommittee meeting with one hour of public comment and a full committee meeting lasting over three hours.
The measure would ban abortion when an ultrasound detects cardiac activity, around six weeks and before most people know they are pregnant. It includes exceptions for fatal fetal anomaly, rape, incest, and the patient’s life and health up to 12 weeks. Doctors could face felony charges carrying a $10,000 fine and two years of imprisonment for violations.
But the House committee voted Tuesday to insert many provisions from the chamber’s failed near-total ban. The bill now outlines specific medical conditions like ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages in a list of exceptions to the ban. It also requires that fathers pay retroactive child support starting at conception and cover half of all medical expenses.
Republican Majority Leader David Hiott said Senate negotiators have approved the changes. But a second Senate passage is not guaranteed.
The move comes two weeks after the only five women in the South Carolina Senate filibustered a House bill banning nearly all abortions, and six Republicans helped defeat any chance it becomes law this year.
Two of the three Republican women attended the Tuesday morning deliberations. All three told The Associated Press they don’t support any changes.
“We don’t have to put everything in the kitchen sink with this thing,” State Sen. Penry Gustafson said. “Let’s get it across the finish line so we can reduce abortions.”
She said House Republicans should have passed the original Senate bill earlier this year.
State Sen. Sandy Senn said she did not expect the new version would pass the Senate, but she added that “crazier things have happened.”
“We had told them if you want it to pass, don’t move a semicolon,” said Senn, who voted against the bill in February. “They were very, very substantive changes. So, yes, we will be filibustering.”
The bill now faces a full House vote before returning to the…
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