Debate on post-Roe abortion rights in SC starts this week. Here’s how you can weigh in

The South Carolina House panel considering more restrictive abortion legislation will start public listening sessions Thursday ahead of a special-called legislative session later this year to respond to the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe v. Wade.

On the other side of the State House, Senate leaders are in the process of organizing their own committee to take public input and debate legislation that will likely center on further abortion restrictions in the state. The committee will be run by Medical Affairs Committee Chairman Danny Verdin, R-Laurens.

The Senate has not released official plans as to when they’ll meet, but Verdin and colleagues have given South Carolinians a sample of how far they could go with a bill filed that would make abortions illegal in all cases except for the life of the mother.

The Legislature’s next steps on abortion follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overrule Roe v. Wade, the landmark precedent that constitutionally protected abortions. The ruling sent abortion rights back to state legislatures to decide abortion laws.

South Carolina law currently bans abortions at around six weeks of pregnancy, when most women don’t know they’re pregnant, critics argue. The law was previously blocked in the courts, but took effect June 27 after a federal judge lifted a temporary hold that had blocked the law for more than a year.

Almost 48% of abortions in 2021 were performed at or before six weeks, according to a 2021 state Department of Health and Environmental Control report.

State lawmakers plan to return to Columbia for a special session some time before the November elections despite requests by Gov. Henry McMaster’s Democratic challenger, Joe Cunningham, to wait until the election has passed.

The governor told reporters last Tuesday that there was “no need to wait.”

“Now is a good time. We have children being aborted in our state, as well as the rest of the country, and we have the information,” McMaster said. “It’s time to get on with the discussion and make whatever decisions are necessary.”

House starts public hearings this week

Public testimony starts at noon Thursday during the House’s first committee hearing on abortion legislation, H. 5399.

The July 7 meeting will be in Blatt Room 110, on the State House grounds. There will be no remote option to testify.

The committee chairman, state Rep. John McCravy, R-Greenwood, told The State that speaking time will be contingent on the number of people who sign up.

Previously, McCravy told reporters he supports a total abortion ban with no exceptions.

“We want to make sure we hear everybody’s opinions before we get going on this,” said McCravy, whose committee is made up of four Democrats and eight Republicans. “So, I think it’s important to listen and that’s part of the process.”

Not everyone is optimistic.

Vicki Ringer, director of public affairs at Planned Parenthood South Atlantic in South Carolina, said anyone who wants to testify should get there early and be prepared to be brief.

Ringer said she isn’t confident in the panel’s ability to pass legislation that’s “good for women,” saying she expects legislators to pass a total abortion ban with no exceptions.

“We will all go in there and talk about our personal stories, what we have experienced as women, times when we’ve needed abortions, pregnancies we’ve struggled through, the financial issues, emotional issues of raising children, and it falls on deaf ears time and time again,” Ringer said.

“But we still go through those motions and hope that there will come a day when the legislators who are elected to represent us actually represent the majority of people in this state who don’t want abortion banned,” she said.

Senate plans for post-Labor Day debate

Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee, told senators to keep their schedules open for session after Labor Day in anticipation that the House sends over an abortion bill by late August or early September, Sen. Verdin told The State.

“(The House is) trying to be in a position to deliver a comprehensive bill to the Senate that gives us as good a starting place as we can possibly get to have as much consensus as possible,” Verdin said.

He plans to address abortion legislation through his 17-member Medical Affairs Committee.

Verdin said he is considering taking public testimony around mid-August, which is likely to happen simultaneously as the House debates its abortion bill.

Verdin is a co-sponsor of a bill, S.1373, sponsored by Sen. Richard Cash, R-Anderson, and also co-sponsored by Sen. Rex Rice, R-Pickens. The bill would make all abortions illegal, except if the mother’s life is at stake, and require physicians to document the circumstances that led to the abortions.

A physician found in violation of the proposed law would be subject to criminal prosecution and their license would be revoked by the Board of Medical Examiners. Selling, distributing or advertising an abortifacient, a drug that induces abortions, also is illegal under the bill.

Additionally, transporting a pregnant minor from South Carolina to another state for an abortion would be against the law.

The bill was heavily based upon model legislation from the National Right to Life Committee, the largest national anti-abortion organization. Cash said he added some work from his previous legislation that would result in a total ban on abortions.

“There’s a lot of communication among pro-life legislators concerning what we want to try and (get) accomplished,” Cash told The State. “And we’re agreed on the main principles of passing a bill to make abortion illegal without exceptions and also passing a bill that does not penalize a woman who has an abortion.”

Verdin indicated he’s open to receiving testimony on any bill related to abortion, including Cash’s. He’s also open to hearing testimony on a proposal filed by Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, which affirms abortion access in South Carolina and protects contraception and in vitro fertilization.

“I think it would be appropriate for us to hear comment on any of those matters,” Verdin said. “I don’t think we would turn anyone from the public away that would desire to comment on anything that is before our body or that is even being considered over in the House.”