SC Abortion Bans, Current and Future
Or, Have A Heart (South Carolina Legislators)
Getting a Ph.D. can mean you’re late to the babymaking party (you also have to sometimes wait to find a person who believes in equal parenting, shoutout to my partner Stephen). So I was 36 when I had Alex, 39 when I had Ellie, both higher risk pregnancies. I’m glad I didn’t know then how dangerous it was to be pregnant, both at my age and in this state, one of the worst in the country for healthcare overall, and especially bad for women.
But because we live in Greenville, a relatively wealthy city, I had access to some of the best care in the region. A few days ago, we were at the pool with the kids, and we met an ER physician. After some coded back and forth, we realized we were on the same page about abortion rights, and he told me doctors are really struggling with the new abortion law in the state, which makes it a felony for a doctor to provide an abortion after six weeks or if a “heartbeat” is detected. Doctors are at risk of fines up to $10,000 or two years of jail time, or both.
The current law makes exceptions for vaguely defined medical emergencies or the life of the mother, but doctors are having to reject the standard of care in order to protect themselves. Cases are already emerging (like this one in Texas) of patients denied abortion care in the case of miscarriages, delays that lead to infection, pain and suffering (and put future fertility at risk). Under these circumstances, overwhelmed healthcare providers might leave South Carolina, further eroding our already subpar healthcare system.
Life under this abortion ban is already difficult (shoutout to Malissa Burnette and her team for challenging it, next stop is the South Carolina Supreme Court). Extremist state politicians are pushing to make things even worse, with a new bill in the Senate sponsored by members of the South Carolina Family Caucus. The text of the bill seems to come mostly from a template created by the National Right to Life and is not specific to the needs or public opinions of South Carolinians.
The new bill would not only remove the current exceptions for rape and incest (exceptions Representative Nancy Mace fought for in the current law) but also make it a felony to aid, abet or conspire with anyone to obtain an abortion. It would also make it a felony to transport a minor across state lines for an abortion, which means parents or guardians who tried to get abortion care for their children could be imprisoned. It’s been getting national press coverage, Vanity Fair’s coverage is here. (And here’s the text of the full bill).
The Senate Bill is under consideration in the Medical Affairs committee and the House version calling for a total ban has moved to the Judiciary Committee, so if you live in South Carolina, now is the time to get in touch and voice your opposition: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/CommitteeInfo/housejudiciary.php. It’s not overstating the case to say lives are on the line. The Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network has great resources on ways to take action, including a link to write an email to the Judiciary Committee members here: https://bit.ly/DemandAbortionAccess. The Committee will have a hearing the week of August 15th, so if you can travel to Columbia, I’m sure we’ll see organized protests and testimony opposing the bill.
These laws are radical, and written without consulting doctors or patients. It’s no surprise that the South Carolina chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists strongly oppose these laws, as they explain in a joint statement:
“One of the principal reasons South Carolina ACOG opposes the SC Heartbeat Protections from Abortion Act is that it criminalizes the practice of medicine. By putting physicians in fear for providing evidence-based, appropriate, lifesaving care, and denying patients the ability to turn to their trusted physicians for care, this law and the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization threatens the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship, and dismisses bodily autonomy for patients.
Abortion is a safe, evidence-based part of comprehensive healthcare which will remain legal in other states despite this ruling, because it is recognized as part of the standard of care. The 6 week ban in South Carolina means that physicians in our state will potentially face felony charges, jail time, and monetary fines for providing necessary, lifesaving interventions. Physicians have a right of conscience to provide medical care according to the best available evidence, their professional judgment, and their ethical obligation to their patients. Now, for the first time in more than five decades, physicians in South Carolina will no longer be able to exercise the full scope of evidence-based best practices in caring for the women of this State.” (Read the full statement here).
It's hard to understand how these legislators are willing to put people’s lives at risk by blinding following the recommendations of a national special interest group. And it is especially frustrating because we know that banning abortion has no discernible effect on abortion rates, only making the procedures more costly and more dangerous. If politicians were serious about reducing the number of elective abortions, they would invest in evidence-based sex education, contraception access, and in a social safety net that protected parents and children. I don’t see anyone in the South Carolina Family Caucus advancing those kinds of bills.
Feeling this song: