South Carolina GOP lawmakers propose death penalty for women who have abortions

Republican lawmakers in South Carolina are contemplating a change to the state’s prison code that may make an individual who will get an abortion eligible for the loss of life penalty.

The invoice being thought-about in South Carolina, dubbed the South Carolina Prenatal Equal Safety Act of 2023, would redefine “individual” below state legislation to incorporate a fertilized egg, giving it on the level of conception equal safety below the state’s murder legal guidelines, together with the loss of life penalty.

The invoice supplies an exception for a pregnant one that underwent an abortion “as a result of she was compelled to take action by the specter of imminent loss of life or nice bodily damage.” It additionally supplies an exception if the process is required to avert the loss of life of a mom “when all affordable options to avoid wasting the lifetime of the unborn youngster had been tried or none had been out there.” 

The invoice doesn’t present an exception for rape or incest, some extent that Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) took goal at on the Home flooring final week. Mace has blasted her celebration for its restrictive abortion insurance policies.

“To see this debate go to the darkish locations, the darkish edges, the place it has gone on each side of the aisle, has been deeply disturbing to me as a lady, as a feminine legislator, as a mother, and as a sufferer of rape,” Mace stated.

The invoice in South Carolina continues a pattern of legal guidelines in Republican-led states to restrict entry to abortions and punish it below legislation after the autumn of Roe v. Wade. At the very least 18 states have imposed close to or whole abortion bans, based on a New York Occasions tracker. Eight states have had such bans blocked by courts.

The South Carolina Supreme Court docket dominated {that a} ban on abortions after six weeks was unconstitutional.