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South Carolina Republican lawmakers are considering a bill that would make a person who has an abortion eligible for the death penalty.
The bill, titled the South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act of 2023, would change the state’s criminal code and redefine “person” to include a fertilized egg at the point of conception.
According to the bill, the change would “ensure that an unborn child who is a victim of homicide is afforded equal protection under the homicide laws of the state.” Under South Carolina law, that includes the death penalty.
The bill provides exceptions for pregnant people who had an abortion if they were “compelled to do so by the threat of imminent death or great bodily injury” and also provides an exception if the abortion was done to save the life of the mother. There are no exceptions for rape or incest.
South Carolina bill follows Roe decision
The Supreme Court’s move last summer to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion in its Dobbs decision has raised implications across the country on whether a person who has an abortion could be charged with murder in states with anti-abortion laws.
Since the decision, anti-abortion laws that include homicide charges as criminal penalties have begun to crop up in states such as South Carolina, Kentucky and Arkansas.
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Here’s what to know:A Texas judge could soon force a major abortion pill off market nationwide.
South Carolina GOP lawmaker calls bill ‘deeply disturbing’
The bill has garnered the backing of 21 South Carolina House Republicans but since the bill was introduced back in January, some lawmakers have asked for their names to be removed from the legislation.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., a GOP lawmaker who has urged her party to strike a more centrist approach to anti-abortion laws, slammed the proposed legislation on the House floor on Friday.
Related:Republican legislators will defend Arizona law banning abortion due to ‘genetic abnormalities’
“To see this debate go to the dark places, the dark edges, where it has gone on both sides of the aisle has been deeply disturbing to me as a women, as a female legislator, as a mom, and as a victim of rape,” Mace said.
“This debate ought to be a bipartisan debate where we balance the rights of women and we balance the right to life,” continued Mace.
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