In other news your reproductive organs and rights will not enjoy, South Carolina legislators have passed a bill banning abortion after 19 weeks, making it the 17th state to uphold the prohibitive measure.
The bill, which was approved 79 to 29 in the South Carolina House, is the latest of many which hinges on whether fetuses have the ability to feel pain around the 20th week of development—despite overwhelming evidence otherwise. In suit, the latest like-minded and completely unnecessary legislation to pass occurred in Utah this past March, and made it mandatory to administer anesthesia to abortion patients after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
While the South Carolina bill has a few sparse exceptions—if the mother’s life is threatened due by the pregnancy or if a doctor determines that the fetus will not survive outside of the womb—it does not cover women who are survivors of rape and/or incest. While these terms were included in the original draft of the bill, they were thrown out last March—the same month in which the South Carolina Senate approved of the legislation 36 to 9.
“This is a dangerous bill for South Carolina women ..., made even more extreme by removing exceptions for victims of rape and incest,” Alyssa Miller, the director of public affair’s for South Carolina’s Planned Parenthood South Atlantic chapter, said in a recent statement.
“The reality is that abortion later in pregnancy is extremely rare and often takes place in complex and difficult situations where a woman and her doctor need every medical option available,” she added.
The bill will not become law until it is signed by Governor Nikki Haley. which is more or less a cold comfort. While the Republican governor has not yet commented on the bill’s passing, the Associated Press noted that back in March, she stated that she would “almost certainly sign it, but wants to look at the details once it reaches her.”
South Carolina representative Wendy Nanney, who sponsored the bill, told reporters that she hopes the bill will serve as a stepping-stone to “get rid of abortion altogether.”
“I firmly believe life begins at conception and anything we can do to protect human life I’m all for,” she added.
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