South Carolina Republicans propose stronger abortion ban; Wyoming overrides veto on ultrasound bill

Could South Carolina get stronger pro-life protections?

Nearly 40 Republican state legislators have sponsored the Human Life Protection Act, a measure that would ban abortion in South Carolina from the moment of conception. It includes exceptions to protect the life of the mother and to prevent a serious risk of irreversible impairment of a bodily function, ABC News 4 reports.

Currently, abortion is legal until the sixth week of pregnancy in the state, with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.

“All the Republicans, I know I did, we ran on being pro-life from conception. That’s what’s in the platform,” State Rep. Jordan Pace, R-Spartanburg, told reporters.

While opponents have said there needs to be an exception for rape or incest in the proposed bill, Pace says “we should not punish innocent lives for how they were conceived.” 

In her testimony against the measure, Lindsey Hunter, a registered nurse from Lexington, worried about making abortion illegal.

“Criminalizing abortion does not stop it,” she said. “It only drives it underground, putting individuals at greater risk of harm.”

However, Pace said he understands some may oppose the bill and that it could face legal challenges, but he doesn’t think that should stop Republicans from doing the right thing. 

“I don’t see that as a hindrance or a roadblock that the system is working because that’s how it’s supposed to work,” he said. 

Pace filed a similar bill during the last session, but it never came up for a vote. 

The push in South Carolina comes as Wyoming lawmakers recently strengthened pro-life protections. 

The Republican-controlled state Legislature overrode a veto from Gov. Mark Gordon on legislation that would require women to receive an ultrasound at least 48 hours before receiving a chemical abortion. 

Gordon, a Republican who has signed other pro-life legislation, said the law could be unfair to victims of rape or incest.  

“It creates the prospect of an unnecessary, intimate and invasive procedure (transvaginal ultrasound) which subjects women to an uncomfortable and potentially traumatic experience in what may already be a very overwhelming situation,” he wrote in his veto letter. 

The Senate voted 22-9, and the House 45-16 for the override Thursday, the last day of the legislative session. 

Sen. Laura Pearson, R-Kemmerer, said the measure’s opponents miss the point. 

“This bill is about protecting not only the mother but (also) the child. Many can say this is intrusive, but the facts are that these abortion drugs are not safe after a certain gestational period of the baby,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “That’s the reason for the vaginal ultrasound.” 

The state Supreme Court is also weighing a law containing abortion restrictions that caused the state’s lone surgical abortion clinic to close.