Husband’s Consent Not Necessary For Abortion

The rules are still being drafted, but South Carolina officials are already agreeing that abortions rules that require tests for sexually transmitted diseases and signed consent by the husbands of married women were erroneous.

The New York Daily News noted that pro-choice groups are already calling the two possible new rules and proposed regulations on abortion providers in South Carolina as "extreme" and "politically driven" with the state Department of Health And Environmental Control issuing a mea culpa following the outcry Wednesday.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Read apologized for the confusion, saying that officials would be correcting the draft rules as they are reviewed - only abortions in the third trimester of a woman's pregnancy require the consent of the husband, as noted by state law.

Read also told The Post and Courier that the testing for syphilis, gonorrhea, and Chlamydia would be carried forward as a recommendation, and not as a mandatory requirement. Required testing would act as a kind of barrier that shames women, as stated by Planned Parenthood regional spokeswoman Vicki Ringer.

Yet, the pro-choice women's health organization opposes other possible changes to the regulations in the draft, saying that the proposals would remove the ability of young girls to bypass parental consent by obtaining a judge's permission, and by requiring board certification in obstetrics and gynecology for a more stringent surgical standard at abortion clinics in the state.

"Many of these proposed changes are medically unnecessary, unconstitutional and clearly designed to further impede a woman's ability to make the deeply personal decision to seek safe, legal abortion," Ringer shared, adding that these regulations were based on politics, not medicine itself.

The Republican-controlled Legislature in South Carolina has tightened abortion rules over the years, with CBS News noting that Gov. Nikki Haley has signed a law last spring, banning abortions at 20 weeks or beyond, with the exception being if the mother's life is in jeopardy, or if a doctor determines the fetus cannot survive outside the womb.