COLUMBIA, SC (Wednesday, February 3, 2021) By a 3-2 vote along party lines, the Constitutional Laws Subcommittee of the State House of Representatives gave the
Fetal Heartbeat Bill (S1) a favorable report with no amendments moving it one step closer to final
passage.
The bill passed the South Carolina Senate on January 28, 2021, by a vote of 30-13.
The majority vote supported the position of South Carolina Citizens for Life and other pro-life organizations to pass the Fetal Heartbeat Bill with no House amendments so that S1 will go directly to Governor Henry McMaster for his signature. The bill now goes to the full House
Judiciary Committee.
It is critical now for pro-life activists to contact your member of the House of Representatives with this message. “Pass the Fetal Heartbeat Bill S1 with no House amendments.” Find your
representative’s contact information here. Once you communicate with your House member, please let the SCCL office know where the member stands on
S1.
Voting in favor of the bill that gives a pregnant woman the right to hear her baby’s heartbeat and protects most unborn children with a detectable heartbeat from death by abortion were Subcommittee Chairman William Weston Newton, R-Bluffton, Representative Russell Fry, R-Surfside Beach, and Representative Chris Murphy, R-Charleston, who is Chairman of the full House Judiciary
Committee. Voting against the legislation, were Representative Justin Bamberg,
D-Bamberg, and Representative Will Wheeler, D-Bishopville.
Representative John McCravy, R-Greenwood, who sponsored a similar bill in the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2019, told subcommittee members, “If the heartbeat is detected, the
baby is protected.”
The first witness to testify in favor of the Fetal Heartbeat Bill was Lt. Governor Pamela Evette. “As a mother, as a woman, and as a leader in South Carolina, I think it’s important that I stand up to show my support for S.1,” Evette said.
More than 50 people testified in the four-hour hearing that lasted from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. An impressive number of college age students testified in favor of the bill. Two pro-life physicians eloquently countered a pro-abortion doctor’s testimony.
Dr. Mark Chetta, M.D., chairman of the pre-medical school program at Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC, testified that he has delivered more than 2,000 babies. He said the heartbeat of the unborn child can be detected as early as 22 days after fertilization and that the four chambers of the baby’s heart can be detected by 28 days. Dr. Chetta’s testimony countered that of a
pro-abortion doctor who claimed the unborn child does not have a heartbeat at six weeks, but rather “electrical impulses.”
Pro-Life physician Dr. Peter Bleyer, M.D., of Conway, SC also testified in favor of the Fetal Heartbeat Bill. Dr. Bleyer is president of the Blessed Clemens von Galen Society of Catholic health care professionals. Speaking in favor of S1, Dr. Bleyer said that the abortion industry is “the winner of money and power and the unborn child pays with his life.” He said he agreed
in one respect with the pro-abortion doctor who testified. “Abortion is an evidence based
procedure. The baby dies almost 100 percent of the time” Dr. Bleyer said.
