The three Republican women in South Carolina's Senate urged the other members of their party to adopt a 12-week abortion ban Tuesday as they fought additional restrictions one month after helping filibuster a near-total ban.
It was, until the very end of the legislative process, unclear if the coalition known as the “sister senators” — the three Republicans, one Democrat and one independent who are the only women in the 46-member chamber — could block a new version of a bill that cleared the state Senate earlier this year with some of the group’s backing.
But as wire services reported, the Republican-led Senate on Tuesday evening OK'd a bill that bans most abortions after an ultrasound detects cardiac activity, generally around six weeks and before most people know they are pregnant. The governor has indicated plans to sign it.
In blistering speeches, all three Republican women said the proposal didn't give women enough time to make a decision and criticized changes like one requiring child support beginning at conception as ridiculous. Republican Sen. Katrina Shealy endorsed the 12-week ban as a “real compromise.”
Shealy and Republican Sen. Penry Gustafson pushed back on assertions that they are not true Christians because of their positions.
“We in the South Carolina Legislature are not God. We do not know what’s going on in somebody else’s life. We do not have the right to make decisions for someone else,” Shealy said.
The bill included exceptions for fatal fetal anomalies, the patient’s life and health, and rape or incest up to 12 weeks. Doctors could face felony charges carrying two years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.
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