COLUMBIA, SC (Wednesday, February 17, 2021) After three hours of contentious debate, the expulsion of a House member for bad behavior, and a call for the State Highway Patrol to round up absent House members, the South Carolina House of
Representatives gave second reading to the Fetal Heartbeat Bill (S1) by an overwhelming vote of 79-35.
If the House gives third reading Thursday, February 18, and the bill is ratified, pro-life Governor Henry McMaster could sign it into law before the end of the day. On January 28, 2021, the Senate passed S1, sponsored by pro-life Senator Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, by a lopsided vote of 30-13.
The bill gives a pregnant woman the right to know her unborn child has a heartbeat and gives her the right to hear the heartbeat if she so chooses. The law also protects most unborn children with a detectible heartbeat from death by abortion.
The lobby of the State House was crowded most of the day primarily with Heartbeat Bill supporters. House Democrats staged a walkout and held a press conference in the lobby condemning the Heartbeat Bill. Heartbeat supporters, however, rimmed the press conference with pro-life signs.
"This is an historic day in South Carolina when the House and the Senate have re-established the heartbeat as the scientific, objective standard as the sign of life for the unborn," said South Carolina Citizens for Life President Lisa Van Riper of Greenville. The Heartbeat Bill, she said, "protects not only the unborn but the
medically fragile members of our human family."
In addition to South Carolina Citizens for Life, numerous pro-life and pro-family organizations have supported passage of the Heartbeat Bill since 2019. These include the South Carolina Baptist Convention, the Catholic Diocese of Charleston, Palmetto Family, the SC Association of Pregnancy Care Centers, South Carolina Republican Party,
Concerned Women for American, Alliance Defending Freedom, the Christian Medical and Dental Association, and the Blessed Clemens von Galen Catholic Medical Guild of South Carolina.
Representative John McCravy, R-Greenwood, praised the groups supporting the S1 which passed the House without any changes to the Senate bill. "When a heartbeat stops we say life is over," Representative McCravy said, rephrasing a long-held motto of the pro-life movement "Abortion Stops a beating Heart."
Joe Mack, Senior Policy Advisor for South Carolina Citizens for Life said, “In my 23 years of working on life issues, the Heartbeat Bill passed today is by far the most significant.”
In a raucous move, most of the House Democrats stormed out of the chamber and held a press conference in opposition to the bill.” They later moved to the Capitol steps to join a loud pro-abortion demonstration. “Today Democrats walked out of the House Chamber in protest against the Heartbeat Bill,” said Dr. Tony Beam, Director of the Office of Public Policy for the SC Baptist Convention. “House Republicans moved quickly to dispense with over 100 amendments
that could have derailed the bill. We are so grateful for a positive vote on the second reading of the bill, and we look forward to the Heartbeat Bill passing [third reading] tomorrow and the beginning of the historic protection of every beating heart. This is truly a great day in South Carolina.” In general, Republican lawmakers favor the Heartbeat Bill as well as Governor McMaster, Lt. Governor Pamela Evette, and SC Attorney General Alan Wilson.
One Republican, Representative Jonathon Hill of Anderson, an opponent of the bill, tossed papers on the floor and marched out of the Chamber when he was not allowed to put up amendments. Later the House invoked a rarely used rule requiring the South Carolina Highway Patrol to round up absent legislators to be present for the final vote. When Hill returned, however, he was not admitted to the House floor. House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington,
said
earlier, “If you want to engage in such childish behavior, the Sergeant-At-Arms will make sure you’re not here with us.”
Alexia Newman, Executive Director of the Carolina Pregnancy Center in Spartanburg, said, “I am overjoyed by the passage of the Fetal Heartbeat Bill. This is another victory not only for babies in the womb, but it also saves women and men from the emotional pain of an abortion. This is a victory for families in South Carolina.”
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