A South Carolina bill is making headlines for seeking to make a person who gets or performs an abortion guilty of homicide.
Under the South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act of 2023, a person involved in an abortion could ultimately face the death penalty.
Rep. Rob Harris introduced the bill and currently has 21 cosponsors.
The legislation would redefine “person” to include a baby from the moment of conception. This would afford a fetus the same protections as a person who has been born, including capital punishment for their deliberate killing.
There is an exception for a pregnant woman who gets an abortion “because she was compelled to do so by the threat of imminent death or great bodily injury” or if it was the absolute only way to save the mother’s life and efforts to save them both have failed.
The bill would not have exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
The proposed legislation has been under fire from RINO Rep. Nancy Mace, who is taking a break from her seemingly singular focus on legalizing marijuana to complain about the bill.
“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 woman, as a female legislator, as a mom, and as a victim of rape. I was raped as a teenager at the age of 16,” Mace said. “This debate ought to be a bipartisan debate where we balance the rights of women and we balance the right to life. But we aren’t having that conversation here in D.C. We aren’t having that conversation at home. We aren’t having that conversation with fellow state lawmakers.”
The South Carolina Supreme Court previously ruled that banning abortions after six weeks was unconstitutional. For now, abortion is legal in South Carolina up to 21 weeks and 6 days of pregnancy.