South Carolina likely won’t make abortion rules stricter

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Conservative South Carolina lawmakers voted Tuesday not to make changes to the state’s abortion laws after this summer’s U.S. Supreme Court decision, meaning rules on abortion likely will not become more restrictive.

South Carolina was for decades at the forefront of passing more restrictive abortion laws that challenged Roe v. Wade, before the landmark case was overturned this summer.

But the state that helped lead the nation through requiring ultrasounds, parental consent and 24-hour waiting periods before abortions is at an impasse during a special session. The Senate could only muster enough votes to tweak South Carolina’s current six-week ban — which isn’t even in effect at the moment because of a state Supreme Court challenge.

The House started its session Tuesday by rejecting a proposal by Democratic Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter to have the right to abortion placed before voters in a constitutional amendment.

“Why are you afraid to let the people decide?” Cobb-Hunter asked. “Are you afraid you are going to be proven wrong? I think that’s it.”

By rejecting the Senate’s version, it allows a group of three lawmakers from each chamber to work on a compromise between the Senate bill and the House version, which banned almost all abortions with exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest or that threaten the life of the mother up to 12 weeks after conception.

But Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey isn’t sure there is any room to negotiate.

The Republican said senators showed earlier this month there aren’t enough votes in the 46-member chamber for a ban earlier than six weeks. The Senate’s three women joined two other Republicans against a nearly total abortion ban, leaving the chamber short of votes needed to end a potential filibuster.

The bill before the House keeps the ban on abortion after an ultrasound determines cardiac activity is present in a fetus, which is usually around six weeks. It cuts the time that victims of rape and incest who become pregnant can seek an abortion from 20 weeks to about 12 weeks, and requires DNA from the aborted fetus in those situations be collected for police. It also clarifies protections for doctors who order an abortion if it is determined a fetus cannot live outside the womb.

For lawmakers and groups that have spent decades trying to end all abortions, it is a frustrating end to what looked so promising after leaders…