South Carolina GOP mulls death penalty for women who receive abortions
Misty Severi
Video Embed
Republican lawmakers in South Carolina are considering changing the state criminal code to expand death penalty eligibility to include women who have an abortion.
The new bill, being considered in the state’s General Assembly, is called the South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act. It would expand the state’s definition of a “person” to include a fertilized egg. Thus, the death penalty would apply to people who get abortions because abortion would be assigned an equal status to homicide under state law.
WATCH: JANE FONDA OFFERS ‘MURDER’ AS A SOLUTION TO ANTI-ABORTION AMERICANS
The bill allows exceptions to save the mother “when all reasonable alternatives to save the life of the unborn child were attempted or none were available.”
Another exception is if the person was forced to do so “because she was compelled to do so by the threat of imminent death or great bodily injury.”
There would be no exception to the rule for cases of rape or incest.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), a survivor of rape, has slammed the GOP multiple times for not allowing rape or incest to be an exception. She did so on the floor of the House last week.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“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,” Mace said.
Abortion has been banned on some level in 18 right-leaning states since the overturning of Roe v. Wade last summer. The controversial Supreme Court ruling last year returned the topic of abortion to the states. The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that a ban on abortions after six weeks was unconstitutional.