COLUMBIA, SC (Tuesday, February 9, 2021) By a vote of 15-8, the SC House Judiciary Committee advanced the Fetal Heartbeat Bill (S1) to the full House where it
could be taken up early next week and quickly reach the desk of Governor Henry McMaster who has pledged to sign the bill.
Representative John McCravy, R-Greenwood, expressed satisfaction with the vote saying, “It was a good victory; 15-8 is a solid vote.” He was the chief sponsor of a similar bill in 2019 that passed the House but died in the SC Senate. This year,
however, the Senate took up the bill as its first priority and passed S1, the Fetal Heartbeat Bill and Protection from Abortion Act, on January 28, 2021, by a vote of 30-13.
Lisa Van Riper, President of South Carolina Citizens for Life, praised the Republican Judiciary members. “A special thanks is in order to the Republicans who stood together against hostile amendments which were intended to kill a bill that protects the heartbeat of our unborn
children,” she said. The bill gives a pregnant woman the right to know her baby has a heartbeat and the opportunity to listen to the heartbeat before an abortion. In most cases, a baby with a beating heart is protected from death by abortion.
In a two-and-a-half hour meeting fraught with contentious pro-abortion attacks on the Fetal Heartbeat Bill, three Democrats offered four hostile amendments in an attempt to alter the bill and send it back to the Senate. All four amendments were defeated.
The 15 Republican members held strong to the position of South Carolina Citizens for Life, Palmetto Family, the Catholic Diocese of Charleston, and the South Carolina Baptist Convention to “Pass S1, the Fetal Heartbeat Bill with no House amendments so that it can go directly to Governor McMaster."
“Today Republicans on the Judiciary Committee pushed back against toxic amendments to the Heartbeat Bill that would have made the bill impossible to pass on the House floor,” said the Reverend Dr. Tony Beam, Director of the Office of Public Policy for the South Carolina Baptist Convention, among other pro-family positions he holds. “Now we urge all House Republican
to follow the example set by their colleagues and quickly send the Heartbeat Bill to the Governor
for his signature. It’s time to protect by law every beating heart.”
“We applaud these efforts to further galvanize the humanity of each member of our human family,” said Michael Acquilano, Secretary of Communications and Public Affairs for the Catholic Diocese of Charleston. “I anxiously await seeing this bill reach the Governor for his signature.”
Lt. Governor Pamela Evette, who strongly endorses the bill and testified in both the Senate and the House in its favor, attended part of the House Judiciary Committee meeting to show her support.
Voting in favor of S1 with no amendments were:
William H. Bailey, R-Little River
Bruce M. Bryan, R-Lake Wylie
Micah Caskey, R-Lexington
Neal Collins, R- Easley, 2 nd Vice Chairman
Wesley Cox, R-Greer
Sylleste Davis, R-Monks Corner
Jason Elliott, R-Greenville
Russell Fry, R-Surfside Beach
Max Hyde, R-Spartanburg
Jeff Johnson, R-Conway
Jay Jordan, R-Florence
John McCravy, R-Greenwood
Chris Murphy, R-Charleston, Judiciary Chairman
Brandon Newton, R-Lancaster
Weston Newton, R-Bluffton
Please call and thank them for their vote and continue to call your Representative with this message: “Pass S1, the Fetal Heartbeat Bill with no House amendments so that this lifesaving bill will go directly to Governor McMaster for his signature.”
Find contact information for your Representative here.
