South Carolina News: No To Abortion After 19 Weeks Bill Favored

South Carolina abortion, specifically after 19 weeks of pregnancy, will be banned as a result of the bill passed on May 17. With 79-29 votes in favor, the bill will immediately be turned over to Governor Nikki Haley.  

The South Carolina Abortion bill will be handed over to Gov. Haley, who is expected to sign it since she has been vocal about the likelihood of  giving it a nod. However, the Governor stated that she would need to see the legislation first prior to signing it. If the bill earns the last approval, South Carolina will be the 17th state in the US that will have the restriction.

South Carolina Abortion bill was initially proposed in 2015 and got the Senate approval in March this year. The approval was made when the legislation removed the exceptions for pregnancies as a result of incest or rape. According to Planned Parenthood South Atlantic member Alyssa Miller, women and their families have been through a lot of stress in having to face the need to terminate pregnancy because of medical reasons, yet unable to do so, Reuters reported.

As stated by R-Greenville Rep. Wendy Nanney who sponsored the bill, life starts as soon as the woman conceives, hence, every action taken is important to return to that point. She added that in the long run, removing the unborn child after 19 weeks is inhumane, and that she is hoping that the legislation will ban abortion completely. Meantime, the bill will not affect the cases where the mother's life becomes at risk, which according to Rep. Nanney is quite reasonable.

The restriction in the South Carolina abortion law is expected to affect only the hospitals, as the state has only three abortion clinics that do not perform such procedure for pregnancies over 15 weeks.  Doctors who will be found to violate the law will be facing a pay fine of $10,000 and imprisonment of three years, according to Fox News.